Somalia: Turkey's Erdogan on second visit to Mogadishu
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- Posted On 25-01-2015, 10:00AM
MOGADISHU, Somalia Jan 25, 2015 (Garowe Online)-After a week-long lock down, Turkey's President Recep Tayyib Erdogan sans flack jacket and in black business suit landed in war-torn Mogadishu on Sunday, Garowe Online reports.
Federal Government of Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari, acting cabinet members, parliamentarians and cheering crowds clad in Turkish and Somali flags received Erdogan at Mogadishu's seaside airport.
Erdogan alongside Mohamud inspected guard of honor staged by a division from Somali National Army (SNA).
First lady Emine has been seen walking next to President Erdogan shortly after a special plane carrying large Turkish delegation touched down at Adan Ade International Airport.
Turkish leader, the first non-African head of state to visit Somalia at the height of worst famine in decades in 2011 inaugurated airport terminal and ultra-modern Digfer hospital.
Turkey stepped up its involvement in the East African country, launching new schools in Mogadishu, building roads and awarding hundreds of students with scholarships.
Erdogan's motorcade raced through quiet streets-under something analysts described tightest security for a foreign visitor in Mogadishu.
Armed opposition groups toppled the country's long-standing military government in 1991, followed by armed struggle by clans militias for power and more recently high-seas crimes.
GAROWE ONLINE
