The Government of the Republic of South Africa condemns in the strongest terms the bomb attack that targeted a building housing Turkish Embassy staff in Mogadishu, Somalia, on the evening of 27 July 2013. The dastardly offensive carried out by Al-Shabaab militia claimed six lives, including one Turkish official, two Somali security guards and a university student.
 
The South African Government lauds the initiatives taken by Turkey to support Somalia as the country gradually emerges from more than two decades of instability and war. Turkey took the lead at a time when few other countries were willing to enter the volatile State, when Prime Minister Erdogan and his family landed in famine-wrought Mogadishu in 2011. Since then, Somalia has embarked on the road to recovery, with the rest of the international community including South Africa, supporting the rehabilitation of Somali institutions. South Africa welcomes the announcement by Turkey that it will remain steadfast in its support for Somalia despite the attempts by terrorists to plunge the country into further disarray.
 
The South African Government expresses its deepest condolences to the Governments and peoples of Somalia and Turkey and to the families of the deceased. South Africa remains committed to supporting Somalia through capacity and institution building projects and calls on all groups and individuals who remain outside of the political process to renounce violence, desist from cowardly acts of terrorism and join the peace-driven political processes of reconciliation to ensure the development and prosperity of Somalia.
 
For more information, please contact Nelson Kgwete, +27 76 431 3078
 
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION