London (Sunatimes)At the end of Thursday’s Somalia-focused conference in London’s Lancaster House, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi aired his opinion to a crowd of international and Somali journalists. It was the first time he had spoken on the conference since the run-up to its date of opening.

The prime minister said the following on the conference.

We hope that the outcome of the conference bears positive results for the Somalis, but we’ve also heard that a final communique was prepared before the conference had even ended.

Later, Zenawi stated that he didn’t expect this conference to change anything for Somalia. He added that the various power brokers in attendance had varying agendas for Somalia’s future that did not correlate at any level. Ethiopia is estimated to have over 5,000 soldiers inside Somalia, having recently taken the strategic Somali cities of Baidoa and Beletweyn from Al-Shabaab militias.

During the conference, Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed gave a nearly hour-long speech to international delegates, and in the beginning he stated that Somalia’s future would not be dictated by Ethiopia, and it is likely that Zenawi did not take liking to this new direction Somalia may be taking.

Hirsi Fiqi, Editor

DissidentNation.com