TNG premier ends Addis Ababa talks

The delegation from the Transitional National Government (TNG) of Somalia, which has been in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, since Monday, for talks with Ethiopian government, left on Wednesday. The six-man delegation, led by the newly installed prime minister, Hasan Abshir Farah, which was visiting the country at the invitation of the Ethiopian government, held discussions with senior Ethiopian officials, including Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Umar Hashi, a member the delegation, told IRIN by telephone from Addis Ababa on Wednesday that the talks between the two sides had gone well. "We had very useful and productive talks, which covered a lot of ground," he said. Hashi said the talks had focused on "peace and reconciliation in Somalia, and how best to coordinate the various Inter-Governmental Authority on Development initiatives". He said Hasan Abshir and his delegation were departing that afternoon. An Ethiopian foreign ministry press release on the visit said the two sides had discussed "the mutual concerns and misunderstandings which prevailed between the TNG and Ethiopia in recent times". According to the release, the Ethiopians "reiterated their concern over the presence of terrorist elements in Somalia". The TNG delegation had expressed the wish to pursue negotiations "with all parties in Somalia without preconditions", said the press release. It said that it had been agreed that "a comprehensive national reconciliation conference for Somalia should be convened on the basis of the 8th IGAD summit resolution on Somalia". In another development, Hasan Abshir has said the United States could deploy troops inside Somalia "to monitor and track down alleged terrorists activities", the BBC reported on 27 November. While denying that his government had any terrorist links, he admitted that Somalia lacked essential resources, and therefore "would need international help to monitor and detect... terrorist infiltration", said the BBC. Meanwhile, the situation in Garowe, the regional capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, which was captured on 21 November after heavy fighting from the forces of the recently elected president of Puntland, Jama Ali Jama, by those of the region's former leader, Col Abdullahi Yusuf, is reported to be confused, a local journalist told IRIN. "Some people are coming back to town, while others are leaving," Farah Yusuf Nur of Midnimo radio said. "There is confusion as to where the people of Garowe go from here," he added. According to Farah, there are no talks in progress on how to deal with problem, and people "are not sure whether it will end peacefully or in bloodshed". Abdullahi Yusuf's forces were still concentrated on the southern outskirts of town, "with minimum contact with locals", he said.