Monday, January 15, 2007
Six teams of senior Ethiopian officials are travelling to 13 African countries with messages from Prime Minister Meles Zenawi outlining his reasons for the move and seeking support for
stabilisation efforts in Somalia, it said.
"The delegations (will) deliver messages ... to their African counterparts and discuss the prevailing situation in Somalia with the officials of the respective countries," the ministry said in a statement.
"The delegations (will) request the leaders and officials of African countries to extend necessary support to make use of the good opportunity that would ensure peace and security in Somalia."
The first of the teams, all of which are led by ministers or senior officials, left Ethiopia on Sunday, it said.
The delegations will visit Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania
and Tunisia.
Ethiopian troops entered Somalia in December to support the weak Somali transitional government against powerful Islamists and quickly ousted the Islamists from Mogadishu and much of southern
Somalia.
Meles has said his troops will leave within weeks but they are still camped in the capital and outlying areas and have become targets for attack by remnants of the Islamists and their sympathisers.
Ethiopia, along with the United States, United Nations and others, supports deployment of an African peacekeeping force to stabilise Somalia and assist the Somali government in consolidating
its limited power.
However, thus far only one country, Uganda, has volunteered troops for the 8 000-strong operation.
The diplomatic missions come ahead of an African Union summit to be held at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa later this month at which Somalia and the peackeeping force is expected to be high on the agenda.
Source: AFP, Jan 15, 2007