Somalia is a breeding ground for terrorists, Foreign minister Mr Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail said in Nairobi yesterday. Ismail said the terror cells in his country were growing by the day due to lack of a functioning government. "I have said this before and I am repeating it here today; Somalia is a breeding ground for terror gangs. Unless something is done urgently the situation will sooner than later get out of hand," warned Ismail.The minister was briefing the media at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, shortly after returning from a four-day State visit to Saudia Arabia where he accompanied President Abdullahi Yusuf.
Ismail said President Yusuf discussed terrorism at length with the Saudi Crown King and agreed to cooperate to stem the global menace. The two leaders also mooted a bilateral cooperation with the Saudi authorities agreeing to help Somalia in its reconstruction exercise. Saudi Arabia is one of the major Arab League countries that last April pledged to advance Somalia $28 million (about Sh2 billion) for reconstruction.
President Yusuf, accompanied by First Lady Hawa Abdi Samatar, arrived at 12.10pm aboard a Saudi King’s regal jet. He made a one-and-half hour stopover and held closed-door discussions with Kenya Government officials led by Foreign Affairs assistant minister Moses Wetangula. Also at the airport were Kenya’s ambassador to Somalia, Mohamed Affey, special envoy to Somalia Peace Talks, Bethuel Kiplagat, and several Somali Cabinet ministers and MPs.
Yusuf later left JKIA for Jowhar, a town north of Mogadishu, aboard a chartered 16-seater jet belonging to Knight Aviation.
The location of the Somali government is still a contentious matter that has attracted a war of words between Parliamentary Speaker Sherrif Sheikh Hassan Aden and ministers.
There was a lapse of security at the airport as some of the members of President Yusuf’s delegation had their luggage loaded into waiting cars, which were later driven into the city through the VIP gate. Ordinarily, the luggage could have been screened for safety reasons had it been taken through the normal airport check-in procedures.