Turkish aid agency to rebuild Somali parliament

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) on Saturday signed a deal with the Somali parliament to go ahead with the construction of a modern National Assembly building in capital Mogadishu.

Prof. Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari, speaker of the parliament, who spoke to the media after the signing ceremony said TIKA will first build a temporary facility within the next five months where assembly sessions will be held.

In the next phase, it will rebuild the current National Assembly into a seven-storey modern structure.

"Special thanks goes to the our brothers in the Turkish government for the facilitation and funding of this project that is expected to commence as soon as possible," he said.

The parliament building has suffered damage because of civil war in the eastern African country.

Also present at the ceremony were Olgan Bekar, Turkey's ambassador to Somalia, and Galip Yilmaz, TIKA's Mogadishu program coordinator.

Bekar said building the parliament is one of the most prominent projects that TIKA will realize this year.

The new assembly building will comprise of an assembly hall for the sessions, and 329 offices for each of the members in the lower and upper houses.