Mogadishu:( Wajaalenews)United Nations Secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon leading a high level delegation including World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has visited on Wednesday the Somali capital Mogadishu wearing No Flak Jacket.
Ban Ki-moon, and World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, arrived in Mogadishu to pledge support for Somalia’s transition and for efforts to strengthen security and development across the wider Horn of Africa region, UN said.
The delegation also includes Islamic Development Bank President Ahmad Mohamed Ali and senior representatives of the African Development Bank, the African Union, and the European Union.
Senior members of Somali government, and officials from the African Union Mission in Somalia and UN welcomed the delegate of Ban Ki-moon at the airport.
The delegation of Banki Moon held meeting with President of Somali federal government Hassan Shiekh Mohamud.
Ban discussed the Somali federal government leaders the political situation in Somalia and the drought in parts of the country and the political dispute between the president and the Prime Minister.
Secretary General’s visit to Mogadishu comes at a time of military success against Al-Shabaab that gained by Somali military and African Union forces (AMISOM).
In many streets of Mogadishu were closed, while some troops were massing, while significantly tightened security at the airport.
The U.N. Security Council last week authorized the inspections of boats suspected of carrying illegal shipments of charcoal from Somalia.
Somalia’s charcoal market in 2013 and 2014 was worth an estimated $250 million, about 30 percent of which flows to al-Shabab fighters. Though the exports are illegal, they are carried out at ports where the Kenyan contingent of the African Union force has control, amid allegations that Kenyan leaders may be benefiting from the trade as well.
The American ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, welcomed as a positive step the Security Council vote to beef up inspections of suspected charcoal exports.
This is the second Ban Ki-Moon’s arrival in Mogadishu; he already visited Mogadishu in December 2011 during the years of the transitional government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.