UAE to build university in Djibouti

By A Staff Reporter

Dubai - The UAE will build a university in Djibouti, according to Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guellah. He said that President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan had offered to set up a Zayed University there.

Djibouti is concentrating on teaching Arabic and English and reducing the influence of French, he said. At a press conference yesterday he also called for an internationally recognised transitional government or parliament to be formed in Somalia.

This would help ensure peace and security until a central government could be formed to stabilise the country.

The transitional government should include members of the various tribes and warlords. Such a government should receive the support of the international community so as to stabilise Somalia's situation.

He said 12 peace conferences had been held, but all had failed, so a transitional government or parliament would enable Somalia to establish a central government.

In Djibouti refugees comprise 20 per cent of the population of 600,000.

Djibouti's infrastructure cannot support its own people as well as the refugees, partly because of the three-year drought that is devastating Djibouti and neighbouring Ethiopia, Kenya, and Eritrea. Other hardships are being inflicted by lingering regional wars.

Source: Gulf News

May 9, 2000