He pointed out, "The absence of international assistance has minimized the efforts of the Transitional National Government [TNG] to provide basic social and economic services." The TNG has only received $20,800,000 from three Arab states -. Saudi Arabia ($15 million), Qatar ($3 million) and Libya ($2.8 million). The money is insufficient to cover the country's basic needs.
Asked about US charges that local Al-Qaeda affiliates exist in Somalia, the President said that Washington had accepted that there are no terrorist groups in the country. After September 11th, the US Government accused the Somali group Al-Ittihad Al-Islamia of having links to Al-Qaeda. Since then, US-led coalition warships have been stationed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean to monitor maritime traffic. US reconnaissance planes have oveflown the region and Somalia. The President said: "US Government officials and media reporters have visited the whole country. They visited Shimbirale and Ras Kamboni villages where terrorist elements reportedly had training camps. The US Government has confirmed that it understands that no terrorist groups exist in Somalia. Washington has also told us that it will support reconciliation efforts restoring a lasting peace and forming a broad based Government in Somalia." Speaking about the TNG's mandate, which will expire in August, Salad said, "If the present Somali peace talks in Kenya fail, the TNG will organize another peace conference inside the country. We have met with some of our opponents. We also wrote to the leader of the northern region of Puntland, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who indicated he would accept our offer to hold peace talks."
Asked about the relations of his administration with Kenya and Ethiopia, Salad said, "Kenya has a large number of Somali refugees. Our relations with Kenya are normal. The former Kenyan president hosted the peace talks and the reconciliation conference. I hope that the new Kenyan president will follow in his footsteps."
He added, "All TNG efforts to exert control throughout the country were impeded by continuous Ethiopian intervention. Ethiopia supplies large quantities of arms and ammunition to the warlords, and spreads baseless propaganda against the administration."
