By Aweys Osman Yusuf

Mogadishu, 14 March 2007 - An African Union delegation and Ethiopian foreign minister, Seum Mesfin, arrived at Mogadishu international airport on Thursday amid security was tightened.

The delegation met with senior Somali government officials in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Sources close to the transitional government said the delegation was led by Ethiopian foreign minister and the Somali ambassador to Addis Ababa, Abdikarim Farah Laqanyo.

The sources indicated that the delegates also convened with civil society members, business people some religious leaders in Mogadishu during their few hours stay in Mogadishu.

Mr. Laqanyo has told Shabelle by the phone in Mogadishu that AU troops from Nigerian and Burundi will be arriving in Somalia imminently. "The next contingents of the African Union forces for Somalia will be coming from Nigeria and Burundi," he said.

Independent journalists at the airport were threatened and forcibly pushed out the airport by a man claiming to be the chief security officer at Mogadishu airport.

The man, namely Ibrahim Sheik Ali, who seemed to be very upset with the journalists insulted and shoved several journalists out of the airport, while journalists were expecting to cover live reports about the arrival of the delegation and a press conference expected to be held inside the airfield by Ethiopian foreign minister, Seum Mesfin.

He threatened that he will shoot them if he sees the journalists inside and around the airport again.

Source: Shabelle Media Network