Italian Foreign Minister lands in Somali capital Mogadishu

MOGADISHU (terrorfreesomalianews)—The Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi has paid a surprise visit to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Tuesday to voice Italy’s support for the newly formed Federal Republic Government led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.It was the first visit to Mogadishu by an Italian foreign minister since 1992, and the only one by an EU foreign minister.During his trip, unannounced for security reasons, Terzi met President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Abdi Farah Shirdon Saacid at Villa Somalia, presidential palace under high security, voicing Italy’s full support for a unitary Somali Federal Government.Terzi said Italy would continue to back the Somali government’s fight against rebels and pirates and provide “strategic” development aid. The Somali president and prime minister voiced their “huge appreciation for the high political and symbolic value” of Terzi’s visit.Mogadishu is shifting from two decades of civil war to a quivering democracy and the country’s once-rampant al-Shabaab rebels were recently pushed out of their last stronghold into the countryside.