From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Mon Apr 13 2009 - 13:05:37 EDT
US politician targeted in Somalia
Monday, 13 April 2009 17:14 UK
A US congressman has had a narrow escape on a visit to Mogadishu after
Somali insurgents fired mortars towards his plane as it was about to
take off.
Airport officials told the BBC one mortar had landed near the airport as
Donald Payne's plane was due to fly and five others after his plane
departed.
Mr Payne had just met leaders of Somalia's government in the capital.
He had discussed ways that the international community might be able to
help war-torn Somalia.
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says Mr Payne had just left
a half-hour news conference at the presidential palace in the capital
when the attack happened, according to airport officials.
'
Abukar Hassan, a police officer at Mogadishu airport, told Reuters news
agency: "One mortar landed at the airport when Payne's plane was due to
fly and five others after he left and no-one was hurt."
Three people were wounded when one of the mortars hit a nearby
neighbourhood, residents told Reuters.
Mr Payne earlier met President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Prime
Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, among other Somali officials.
The New Jersey Democrat said it was his first visit to Somalia since the
early 1990s, when the country last had a stable government.
Fragile government
During his brief stop in one of the world's most dangerous cities, Mr
Payne was escorted by African Union (AU) soldiers, who are deployed in
Somalia on a peacekeeping mission.
An AU official told AFP on condition of anonymity: "The plane of the
congressman was leaving and the mortars started falling. There were no
casualties, but the attack was aimed at the congressman. He flew out
safely."
Mr Payne discussed with his hosts Sunday's hostage drama in the Indian
Ocean, when US forces shot dead three Somali pirates who had been
holding an American ship captain for five days.
They also discussed peace and reconciliation in Somalia and possible
co-operation between Washington and Mogadishu, our correspondent says.
The Somali prime minister said: "We discussed the current situation of
Somalia, including the latest piracy incident, the progress the Somali
government has made so far and the need for co-operation between the two
countries. Our meeting ended in mutual understanding."
At the news conference earlier, Mr Payne said he was sure the Obama
administration would look favourably on the Somali government,
inaugurated earlier this year after a UN-backed peace process.
"We realise that the government cannot do things overnight," said Mr
Payne, 74, who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's
subcommittee on Africa.
"It's going to take patience and time for the government to be able to
start to provide services to its people.
"But the government will have a responsibility of proving that it's in
the process of benefiting people," the former head of the Congressional
Black Caucus added.
Radical Islamist guerrillas who have sworn to topple the fragile
transitional federal government control parts of Mogadishu and much of
central and southern Somalia.
The former top US diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, became the first
high-ranking American official to visit Somalia in more than a decade
when she landed in Baidoa in 2007, but the security situation kept her
from visiting Mogadishu.
US foreign policy on the Horn of Africa nation has been overshadowed by
the killing of 18 US soldiers in Mogadishu in 1993.
Somalia, a country of about eight million people, has not had a
functioning national government since warlords overthrew President Siad
Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7996795.stm
Donald Payne (L) talks with Somalia Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali
Sharmarke (R) on Monday 13 April 2009 in Mogadishu
<http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45661000/jpg/_45661133_007168563-
1.jpg>
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