Ethiopia, Somalia to strengthen dialogue

Somali and Ethiopian sources said on Saturday that Ethiopia will send within two weeks a high ranking delegation to Makadishu for the first time since the foundation of the provisional national government in Somalia.

The Somali foreign minister Ismael Mahmoud Hurreya better known as Ababa and currently visiting Addis Ababa within a Somali delegation, said that the aim of the visit of the Ethiopian delegation is to keep the impetus of contacts and continued dialogue between the two countries. He said that his visit may result in bilateral cooperation in several areas like desolving the militias and consolidating peace and security in several main cities.

Hurreya described the talks he held with the Ethiopian foreign minister Sayoum Mesfin on the peace process and security between the two countries as intensive and fruitful, noting that Ethiopia can play a positive role in the peace process in Somalia through bringing together all the Somali groups. He added that the provisional national government in Somalia proposed on Addis Ababa a strategic partnership in basic fields like the economy and security.

For his part the Ethiopian foreign minister Sayoum Mesfin called on the two warring sides in Somalia to respond to the reconciliation efforts in a spirit of reconciliation and without imposing prior conditions.

The Ethiopian government had stressed its commitment to facilitate the process of reconciliation in Somalia in the framework of a branch committee including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya, in charge of the file of Somalia and belong to IGAD group which includes seven countries in East Africa.

However, the visit of the delegation of the Somali provisional national government to Addis Ababa came following a series of accusations addressed by this government to the Ethiopian authorities for supporting military groups opposing it.