Somali President pays first official visit to Turkey

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will make his first diplomatic visit to Turkey on Tuesday since assuming his post on Sept. 10. On the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, Mohamud will visit Turkey with a five-member delegation composed of four ministers of the Somali federal government and Chief of General Staff Maj. Gen. Abdul Qadir Sheikh Ali Dini. The president will arrive in Ankara on Dec. 4 and stay in Turkey for four days. After wrapping up official talks in Ankara, Mohamud will continue on to Istanbul on Thursday. Expected topics of discussion include current international developments affecting the continent, especially the Horn of Africa, and bilateral relations. An announcement by the Turkish presidential press center emphasized the deep-rooted ties between Somalia and Turkey, going back to the 16th century, as well as Turkey's multi-faceted support to the civil war-torn country. The statement also noted Turkey's pleasure with Mohamud's first diplomatic visit. In September, Somalia inaugurated President Mohamud, elected in the first vote of its kind since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, leaving the African nation without an effective central government. Somali, Ethiopian and African Union peacekeeping troops have pushed out insurgents of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab from the main areas of the country they had taken during their five-year revolt, encouraging many Somalis to return to rebuild their country.