Wednesday, November 02, 2011
President Sharif was accompanied by a number of ministers and legislators.
Mr Sutan Ahmed, the head of the presidential information department, told the media that the visit was about security in Somalia and in the eastern Africa region.
“How to execute the second phase of the offensive against Al-Shabaab will dominate the talks,” said Mr Ahmed.
The Somali President’s trip coincided with the return from Nairobi of Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, after signing a security pact with the Kenyan government.
According to the agreement reached in Nairobi, the two governments are to jointly fight the Al-Shabaab militants in southern Somalia.
Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have contributed peacekeepers to the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), with the former having provided the bigger contingent.
While the presidential delegation was still at Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport, hundreds of trained Somali soldiers returned from Uganda.
At the same time, an equally large group of cadets were leaving for Uganda for training.
International Airport on November 1, 2011 for Uganda. ABDULKADIR KHALIF | AFRICA REVIEW |