President Ali Abdullah Saleh personally and unilaterally decided to appoint Ahmed Hameed Ali Omar as Yemen’s ambassador to Somalia, sources close to the Presidency said today.

The move was made to emphasize “Yemen’s concern about the security in Somalia and to show support for the traditional government so it could start rebuilding governmental institutions”, the sources added.

This was an unusual appointment that ignored the routine procedures, which should be initiative by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who in this case, was bypassed completely. This indicated Saleh’s interest in securing peace in the war-torn country, which had participated in a recent conference held in Aden tackling security and cooperation related issues among the countries of the Horn of Africa and Yemen