Ethiopian Leader Seeks to Reconcile Somali President and PM

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is currently mediating an effort to reconcile Somalia’s interim President Abdullahi Yusuf and his estranged Prime Minister, Nur Hassan Hussein. The two Somali leaders, who are locked in a power tussle, are in Addis Ababa for the talks. Sources say President Yusuf has requested Zenawi to replace Ethiopia’s top commander in Somalia, General Gabre, who he accuses of having links with Somali insurgents and other subversive groups. Ethiopia helped install the interim Somali government and its troops have largely kept it in place against a sustained Islamist guerilla campaign to depose it. [PE]