US senators on surprise visit to Somalia
US: A US Senate delegation has arrived in the autonomous
region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia in a surprise visit to the
conflict-plague nation.The delegation, headed by Illinois Republican
Sen.
Mark Kirk, arrived in the port town of Bosaso, located about 1,500
kilometers (932 miles) north of Mogadishu, on Saturday and met with
local authorities, a Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.
Puntland, unlike the breakaway region of Somaliland to the west, does
not consider itself an independent country.Until now, it had supported
Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which is backed by the
United Nations but has been greatly weakened by an ongoing war against
al-Shabab fighters who are seeking its overthrow.
In January, Puntland's authorities announced that they had broken
ties with the government based in Mogadishu. Somalia has not had a
functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former
dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Over the past two decades, up to one million people have lost their
lives in the fighting between rival factions and due to famine and
disease.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in
Somalia. Over 300,000 IDPs are sheltering in Mogadishu alone.
Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on
makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Sunday, Presstv |