U.S. to hold international meeting on Somalia

The United States will hold an international meeting on Somalia in New York on June 15, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing on Monday.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer will attend the meeting, McCormack said, adding that the United Nations, Norway, Sweden, Britain, Italy and Tanzania will also be present. McCormack said.

The meeting is expected to discuss "how the international community might coordinate their policies, might bring together their political, diplomatic and perhaps other resources to try to help support the transitional federal institutions in Somalia," McCormack said.

"That gets at the basic point of trying to help the Somali people build up those basic institutions of a state, which are virtually nonexistent or very weak in Somalia and have been for coming up to 20 years now," McCormack said.

There has been no effective central government in Somalia since 1991 because of internal conflicts.

Source: Xinhua