Francois Fall, UN envoy to Somalia

GAROWE, Somalia May 11 (Garowe Online) - The Secretary-General of the United Nations’ special envoy to Somalia landed in Garowe Friday afternoon to discuss with authorities rescue efforts for two foreign aid workers kidnapped earlier this week in Puntland, officials said.

UN representative Francois Fall was in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, earlier Friday where he met with transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and commanders of the African Union peacekeeping mission.

The UN envoy and the Somali leaders discussed the delicate security situation in Mogadishu and preparations for the upcoming national reconciliation “conference of clans,” which Gedi’s transitional government hopes to host in Mogadishu in mid-June.

A humanitarian crisis developed in Mogadishu in April when nearly 1,500 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their homes in violence between Ethiopia-backed government troops and Islamist and clan fighters opposed to the Ethiopian presence.

Mr. Fall spent Friday night in Garowe, capital of the self-governing Puntland region in northeast Somalia.

The UN official is due to meet with Puntland leaders over military tensions with neighboring Somaliland and to push for the safe release of the two aid workers–one Kenyan, one British. [ Full story]

Fall would also discuss with Puntland officials ways to curb human smuggling, which leads to hundreds of deaths each year as migrants attempt to journey by sea from north Somalia across to the Middle East.

Garowe Online News