Deputy PM Holds talks with UN envoy for Somalia

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen held discussion with UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, James Swan, on Tuesday.

“The two sides exchanged views over the election in Somalia, the reform process of the AU peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM), and the need to stem the terrorist acts of Al-Shabab,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

The Deputy Prime Minister told the special envoy that Ethiopia has been closely following the election process in Somalia, further expressing “delight over the peaceful manner that the process” has been undertaken.

Speaking on Al-Shabab, Demeke said cooperation is “indispensable to prevent the group’s attempts to exploit the election process in Somalia and the drought in the area to advance its terrorist acts destabilizing” the region.

The two sides also talked about the reform process in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the role of troop-contributing states, according to MoFA.