Sean McCormack, on (Ethiopia)

Daily Press Briefing
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
August 8, 2006

TRANSCRIPT:

12:30 p.m. EDT

MR. MCCORMACK: You had your question, okay.

Yes.

QUESTION: Thank you, in Ethiopia. This weekend the Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum has been visited in Somalia following the transitional government and returned back to Ethiopia. Did they discuss with you regarding what they have discussed with Somalia transitional government?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't think we've gotten a readout of their discussion. Certainly it's a, you know, quite serious situation in Somalia where you have this Federal Institution that the international community has been trying to build up becoming weaker through these resignations. Certainly we've seen a lot of different news reports about various attempts of Somalia's neighbors to interfere in Somalian affairs. That is certainly not something that we or any other member of the Somalia Contact Group would want to see. We would want to see the international community try to play a positive role to help Somalia and the Somalian people.

We are currently scheduled to have a meeting of the Somalia Contact Group at the end of this month, at the end of August and we'll keep you up to date on the when and the where of that.

Thanks.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:18 p.m.)

DPB # 132

Released on August 8, 2006