Egypt on
Monday expressed hope the positive steps taken recently by the Somali people will
help the country usher in a new age that will realize national reconciliation
and end of anarchy.
A statement released by the Foreign Ministry said that Egypt will always support
the Somali people and their efforts to establish a central government and restore
unity of the country.
Egypt has been closely watching the developments of the Somali national reconciliation
conference held in Djibouti, the statement said, urging the Somalis to discard
differences and close ranks for reuniting the country. Somalia has been in division
since 1991 when the former president, Mohammed Siad Barre, was toppled. Some
460 Somali representatives kicked off in May the country's national reconciliation
conference in Djibouti based on a Djiboutian proposal. The
conference established a 245-member transition parliament on August 13, which
elected Abdiqasim Salad Hassan the Somali president. Both
the parliament and the president are the first in Somalia in a decade. | 
