Somalia
Somalia's president travels to Libya: official
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Nov 17, 2008 - 7:30:14 AM

Somalia’s president travels to Libya: official

TRIPOLI, Libya Nov 17 (Garowe Online) - The president of Somalia's interim government has traveled to Libya on a previously undisclosed trip, a government official has said.

President Abdullahi Yusuf, who flew Monday from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, was accompanied by a number of lawmakers to Tripoli, Libya.

Abdikarin Ugas, the Somali ambassador in Tripoli, told the BBC Somali Service that President Yusuf was officially invited by Col. Muammar Qadafi, the Libyan leader.

The Somali president was warmly received in Tripoli by embassy and Libyan government officials, the Ambassador added.

It is not clear why President Yusuf traveled to Libya, but the trip comes at a time of tense relations between the President and his Prime Minister, Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein. READ: PM defiantly appoints new Cabinet

Prime Minister Nur Adde has defied the President's decision to dismiss the entire government, including the Prime Minister himself, after the two highest-ranking government officials disagreed over the formation of a new Cabinet.

Meanwhile, Islamist rebels have gradually re-captured territory in central and southern Somalia the group controlled in 2006, when Ethiopian troops dislodged the Islamists from power in Mogadishu.

One government insider told Garowe Online that President Yusuf is expected to return to the Somali capital after the Libya trip, adding: "He might declare a state of emergency in the country."

Source: Garowe Online