Top U.S. diplomat flies into Somalia to urge truce

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Top U.S. diplomat flies into Somalia to urge truce
07 Apr 2007 12:03:22 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Ysain Bu'ul

BAIDOA, Somalia, April 7 (Reuters) - The top U.S. diplomat for Africa flew
to Somalia on Saturday to urge the interim government to establish a lasting
truce to clear the way for a reconciliation conference threatened by violence
in Mogadishu.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer landed
in Baidoa, the government's former temporary capital in south-central Somalia,
under heavy security, witnesses said.

Frazer, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Somalia since 1994, was
whisked off to the former presidential palace to meet with President Abdullahi
Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, witnesses said.

Frazer's visit comes on the sixth day of a truce following some of the heaviest
fighting in the capital Mogadishu in 15 years. The fighting was sparked by an
offensive to wipe out a persistent insurgency before an April 16 national
reconciliation conference.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07636258.htm

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