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East African Ministers Discuss Somalia Crisis VOA News 14 Feb 2002 11:17 UTC 
Foreign Ministers from six East African nations have opened meetings in Kenya to discuss the ongoing political crisis in Somalia.
Speaking at the meeting Thursday, Sudan Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail appealed to the U.S.-led anti-terrorist coalition not to attack Somalia. Mr. Ismail said such an attack would only inflict more suffering on the people of that nation.
The U.S. has identified Somalia as a potential haven for terrorists and included a Somali group on a list of known terrorist organizations. The ministers say the Nairobi meeting will lay the groundwork for a reconciliation conference among factions in Somalia. No date has been set for the conference but officials say they hope to convene it before the end of next month.
The meeting in Nairobi brings together the foreign ministers of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda. The nations, along with Somalia, make up the East African Intergovernmental Authority on Development. No Somali factions have been invited to the talks.
Somalia has not had a functional national government since 1991 when President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted by clan-based factions. Somali's transitional national government was selected at a peace conference in neighboring Djibouti in August 2000, but it is struggling financially and has little influence outside the capital, Mogadishu.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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