PM Erdogan arrives in Somalia

[General Duke]

[Valenteenah.]

^ What does this sawir say? "Look I'm holding a malnourished baby"?

 

I saw the other photos, aad ayaa loo soo dhaweeyey the Turkish Prime Minister, reer Muqdisho aad ayey u dadaaleen Maasha'Allah.

 

Our local mosque is Turkish and they've been collecting funds for Somalia over the last few weeks, Ilaahay khayr ha ka siiyo.

[General Duke]

^^^That picture is amazing, it says that the first family of the most powerful Muslim nation are here among the people.

Its sends a clear message, Somali's wake up.

[Valenteenah.]

I like that interpretation, GD.

[General Duke]

 

 

[General Duke]

[General Duke]

[General Duke]

[General Duke]

Turkish PM visits famine-hit Somalia and calls on west to do moreRecep Tayyip Erdogan describes the crisis as a 'litmus test' for humanity as he visits a refugee camp in Mogadishu with his wife

 

Share142 reddit this Reuters in Mogadishu

guardian.co.uk, Friday 19 August 2011 14.48 BST Article history

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his wife, Emine, meet refugees at a camp in Somalia. Photograph: Umit Bektas/Reuters

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has visited Somalia to draw international attention to the famine sweeping across the Horn of Africa.

 

Erdogan, who was accompanied in Mogadishu by his family and five cabinet ministers, has appealed for more food aid for the drought-hit country and lashed out at wealthy western countries for not doing more.

 

Somalia's president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, welcomed Erdogan at the airport with a warm embrace. Erdogan, dressed in a sharp suit, and his wife, Emine, who wore haute-couture Islamic dress, then drove through the city's rubbish-strewn streets.

 

At one dusty, windswept refugee settlement, Erdogan crouched inside the tent of Bashir and Fatima, a young couple mourning the loss of two of their four children who died after walking 55 miles to Mogadishu. Emine Erdogan handed out chocolates and sweets.

 

On Wednesday, Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) countries pledged $350m (£121m) in aid to fight the famine, which has left 3.7 million Somalis at risk of dying of hunger.

 

Erdogan has said he hopes the OIC's efforts will jolt the consciences of those ignoring the unravelling humanitarian emergency.

 

A pious Muslim, he has called the disaster a "litmus test" for humanity.

 

The withdrawal of most Islamists from their Mogadishu bases earlier in the month has in effect handed full control of the capital to the government for the first time since civil war broke out in 1991.

 

Somali troops and African peacekeepers are still meeting pockets of rebel resistance in the city, highlighting the view of regional observers that the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab insurgents are far from defeated.

 

Security forces flooded Mogadishu's main streets, where Turkish flags fluttered in the coastal breeze and posters adorned the walls of mortar-blasted buildings.

 

"Prime minister Erdogan's visit tells us the Turkish people are closer to us than any other Muslim nation on earth," said one resident, Abdirashid Ali Omar. "The Turkish people are here to share with us in our time of need. It is momentous."

 

Muslim Turkey, a rising political and economic power that straddles east and west, is far behind other emerging powers such as China, Brazil or India in the race for new markets in Africa.

 

But under Erdogan's ruling AK party, Turkey has expanded commercial ties in Africa, as well as in the Middle East and Asia, and opened several new embassies in Africa.

 

The UN's World Food Programme said on Friday it was still unable to reach 2.2 million hungry people living in areas of southern Somalia controlled by al-Shabaab, whose bloody campaign to topple the government has cost more than 20,000 lives.

 

Aid agencies say that while droughts are a natural phenomenon, this famine is largely down to conflict and bad governance.

 

"Droughts will happen. They always will, but they don't have to be disasters. They can be managed," Oxfam's Philippa Crosland-Taylor said in neighbouring Kenya.

[Saalax]

[General Duke]

^^^Mogadishu the capital of Somalia is back insha Allah.

[Che -Guevara]

Valenteenah.;741678 wrote:

I like that interpretation, GD.

Won't see an Somali official holding a child-in fact, considering how the Turks are interacting with our people at the camps, you would think they are leaders and Sharif and Co are being shown around.

[General Duke]

^^^Yes indeed, but thats not just Shaif's failure its a Somali failure we dont care about the people, our "leaders" and elites only care about themselves. Thus they fight over the people while their children live in safety.

 

But its a great day, I am glad that Mogadishu has welcomed and did well in reciving this top delegation.

 

Viva Turkiye

[Che -Guevara]

^A time for meaningful change that's for sure, this might be an opportunity to change their directions but these so called 'leaders' accountable.

[nuune]

Thank you Duke for the latest update, I was hoping to publish lots of pictures of the event earlier today, but I have being on plane all day, great day for Somalia, great day for Somalis everywhere.

 

 

And there goes my 10,000th post of SOL, dedicated to Erdogaan and to the Turkish people.