Tuesday, June 05, 2007
"The United States condemns the attempted assassination ... We will continue providing support to the TFG (Transition Federal Government) as it establishes a stable national government based on national reconciliation in Somalia," said US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack.
"We intend to provide technical assistance for the Somali investigation," he added.
"This attack highlights the efforts of extremists and terrorists to disrupt the Somali national reconciliation process. They will not succeed," McCormack said.
Prime Minister Gedi, whose interim government is struggling to control the anarchic Horn of Africa nation, blamed al-Qaeda for Sunday's suicide car bombing on his Mogadishu compound, in which six of his bodyguards were killed.
It was the fourth attempt to kill Gedi in a year.
The International Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia, grouping the European Union, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Tanzania and the United States, is to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday in London to review the situation in Somalia.
Somalia fell into lawlessness with the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and more than a dozen attempts to restore central authority have since failed.
Ethiopian troops helped the Somali government drive out an Islamist movement from south and central Somalia at the start of the year and to clamp down on a growing Islamist-led insurgency late last month.
Some 1 500 Ugandan African Union peacekeepers deployed in Somalia in March, but the African Union is struggling to complete a planned 8 000-strong force, with African countries citing a lack of funds or equipment for the mission.
Source: AFP, June 05, 2007