Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Thursday that Egypt had "an understanding of Ethiopia's intervention that came upon a request by Somalia's legitimate government," the official MENA news agency reported.

Mubarak made the remark in a meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, who briefed the president on the latest developments in Somalia.

After the meeting, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said that Mubarak also received a message from Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on the current situation in Somalia.

But Awad did not give more details about the message.

Mubarak had confidence that Ethiopia respected sovereignty and independence of Somalia, and it had no ambitions for the Somali lands, Awad said, adding that Mubarak believed that Ethiopia would pull out forces from Somalia as quickly as possible.

Mubarak expressed support for the inter-Somali dialogue under the sponsorship of the African Union (AU), the Arab League and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, the spokesman said.

Mubarak said that Egypt supported deployment of an African peacekeeping force in Somalia to implement an AU resolution issued in September last year, according to Awad.

In September, the 53-member AU endorsed plans to deploy a nearly 8,000-strong eastern African force in war-torn Somalia, but the move was vehemently opposed by the Islamists.

Ethiopian troops officially entered Somalia on Dec. 24, joining fighters loyal to Somalia's interim government to repel an Islamist assault on the government stronghold of Baidoa.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday that his country would withdraw its troops from Somalia in two weeks.

Somalia has been lacking an effective government since the 1991 ouster of ruler Mohamed Siad Barre.

Source: Xinhua