WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has appeared to soften his plan to take control of war-torn Gaza and relocate its more than two million residents to nearby countries, saying he was only recommending the idea.
Trump triggered shock earlier this month when he presented his plan, in which Washington would take over the territory and rebuild it while pressuring Egypt and Jordan to accept displaced Palestinians.
But in an interview Friday, the Republican president conceded that the leaders of Jordan and Egypt had rejected the plan, calling the displacement of Palestinians against their will unjust.
“I was a little surprised they’d say that, but they did,” Trump told Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show,” adding that the United States was paying those countries “billions of dollars a year” in aid.
“The way to do it is my plan. I think that’s a plan that really works, but I’m not forcing it,” Trump said. “I’m just gonna sit back and recommend it.”
Trump’s comments came as Arab leaders met in Riyadh on Friday to craft a proposal for Gaza’s post-war reconstruction to counter Trump’s plan.
Trump says ‘not forcing’ Gaza resettlement plan
https://arab.news/gy8ws
Trump says ‘not forcing’ Gaza resettlement plan
- The Republican president conceded that the leaders of Jordan and Egypt had rejected the plan
- “I was a little surprised they’d say that, but they did,” Trump told Fox News Radio’s
Somali president visits city claimed by breakaway region
MOGADISHU: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Friday visited a provincial capital claimed by the breakaway region of Somaliland -- the first visit there by a sitting president in over 40 years.
The visit to Las Anod, the administrative capital of the Sool region, comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions in the Horn of Africa after Israel officially recognised Somaliland, drawing strong opposition from Mogadishu.
Mohamud was attending the inauguration of the president of the newly created Northeast State, which became Somalia's sixth federal state in August.
It was the first visit by a Somali president since 1984.
Somalia is a federation of semi-autonomous states, some of which have fraught relations with the central government in Mogadishu.
The Northeast State comprises the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, all territories Somaliland claims as integral to its borders.
Somaliland had controlled Las Anod since 2007 but was forced to withdraw in 2023 after violent clashes with Somali forces and pro-Mogadishu militias left scores dead.
Mohamud's visit "is a symbol of strengthening the unity and efforts of the federal government to enforce the territorial unity of the Somali country and its people", the Somali president's office said.
