Italy first in West to reopen embassy in Somalia

[sheekh-Farax-zero]

ROME, June 10 (Reuters) - Italy will become the first Western country to reopen its embassy in Somalia, in a gesture of support for the transitional government, officials said on Wednesday.

A meeting in Rome of the International Contact Group on Somalia, with delegates from 33 countries and international organisations, expressed support for President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's government and urged others to follow Italy's lead.

"There was a decision to reopen Italy's embassy in Mogadishu and this is very important," said the U.N. Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. "The African Union has decided to follow suit."

Ould-Abdallah said only Libya, Yemen and Kenya had embassies in Somalia's crumbling sea-front capital Mogadishu, ravaged by 18 years of on-off civil war. Italy's pre-World War Two fascist government controlled large parts of Somalia.

The Somali government and its moderate Muslim allies are battling several groups of Islamist insurgents. Ahmed is himself an Islamist who previously led the Islamic Courts Union which controlled Mogadishu before an Ethiopian invasion in 2006.

Aid agencies say more than 1 million people have been made homeless and about 3 million need urgent food aid in one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, who attended the meeting, said the government would not negotiate with the opposition unless it laid down its weapons.

He praised the efforts of the international naval task forces off the Horn of Africa in combating piracy and expressed hope that 16 Italian hostages held by Somali pirates would soon be released.

The International Contact Group, founded in 2005, brings together the U.N. and countries committed to fostering peace in Somalia.

Source: Reuters

[black velvet]

Dare to hope?


...

[Hyperactive]

horta bv are you from mogadishu or your parents?
walah ive never seen from the people i see more wadani than rer mogadishu.

others ive seen including my relatives say: somali wey damatay, somali wah la daho majirto, blabla

[black velvet]

I was born in Isbitaal Banadir so yes I guess I am reer Mogadishu

[STOP!]

SOMALIA IS WASTED, WHATS THE ITALIANS EMBASSY GONNA DO FOR THE SOMALI PPL?......THEY SHOULD REOPEN THE SCHOOLS THEY DESTROYED FIRST.....MUFFINHEADS

[Ka darag]

SOMALIA IS WASTED, WHATS THE ITALIANS EMBASSY GONNA DO FOR THE SOMALI PPL?......THEY SHOULD REOPEN THE SCHOOLS THEY DESTROYED FIRST.....MUFFINHEADS

[STOP!]

I FEEL SORRY FOR THE SOMALI PPL

[Grant]

SOMALIA IS WASTED, WHATS THE ITALIANS EMBASSY GONNA DO FOR THE SOMALI PPL?......THEY SHOULD REOPEN THE SCHOOLS THEY DESTROYED FIRST.....MUFFINHEADS

What schools did the Italians destroy? Perhaps you are thinking of the cemeteries Cayrow dug up.

Here is the Italian school in Jilib, built by the Italinians:

[sheekh-Farax-zero]

do you call that a school?,,

[STOP!]

[Grant]

do you call that a school?,,

As a matter of fact, I do. It was nicer than what the British built at Shek and nicer than anything the Peace Corps built after it. In Jilib, the Egyptian school met in a one-room carish; dugsi was held under a tree.

What schools did the Italians destroy?