Three members of the Mogadishu-based Transitional National Assembly (TNA) left for Tehran, Iran, on Monday. The parliamentary delegation was headed by the second deputy speaker of the TNA, Ahmad Abarone Amin, and included Yusuf Ahmad Deq, and Ibrahim Muhammad Dusuqi, according to the executive secretary of the TNA, Umar Shaykh Abdi.

The MPs would attend the 24th conference of Islamic States Parliamentary Association, due to open on 24 April, Abdi told IRIN. The Somali delegation is seeking support and funding for "reconstruction efforts of the government", and assistance in the provision of training and equipment.

Abdi said the delegation would brief the conference on the situation in Somalia, and efforts by the Transitional National Government's (TNG) towards reconciliation with opposing faction leaders.

Nairobi, 23 April 2001