President urges support for Somali interim government

On Tuesday Djibouti’s president urged international support for the fledgling government of Somalia. A UN report on 12 September said that President Ismael Omar Guelleh, addressing the United Nations General Assembly, had hailed the recent establishment of democracy in Somalia following what he called “the longest period of state collapse in the modern era”. Meanwhile, Guelleh stressed that the international community should refuse to do business with “destructive elements that made Somalia a byword for chaos and violence”, the report said. He went on to underscore the need for emergency international assistance to enable the Somali government to function and to recreate the country’s basic institutions, referring at the same time to the need for donors and the UN to begin planning for Somalia’s long-term development. [NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS: IRIN recently launched a new service for Afghanistan and Central Asia. If you wish to subscribe to this service, please email your request to [email protected]]