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A conference of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (COMESSA), currently under way in Syrte, Libya, has issued a communiqué in support of the Transitional National Government (TNG) of Somalia, a member of the Somali delegation attending the conference told IRIN on Wednesday.
The Somali delegation is led by the interim president, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, and includes the foreign minister, Yusuf Hasan Ibrahim.
The statement, issued on Wednesday, "supports the unity and territorial integrity of Somalia", and calls for non-interference in Somalia's internal affairs, according to Abdirahman Dinari, the TNG director of information. "COMESSA also reiterates its support for the TNG and the Somali people," he said.
The COMESSA communiqué also urged the United Nations to reopen its offices in Mogadishu, and at the same time called on the international community to support the TNG's efforts to achieve reconciliation and reconstruction, Dinari told IRIN.
He added that Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Isma'il, who chaired the last IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development) meeting on Somalia in Nairobi last month, told the conference that faction leaders were primarily responsible for the instability in Somalia.
COMESSA, which was created in 1998 at the behest of Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, brings together Burkina Faso, the Central Africa Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, The Gambia, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
