St. Paul, Minn – The president of Somalia met with members of Minnesota’s Somali community Saturday as part of a tour to build support for his tenuous government.

President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told those at a Books for Africa event that he wants to find a solution to violence that has plagued his country for decades.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said the problems in Somalia are not clans fighting each other, but rather a “foreign idea” trying to take hold.

A group called al-Shabab, which the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida, is leading much of the fighting in Somalia. As many as 20 young Somali men from Minnesota are believed to have traveled to Somalia to fight. Three have died.

Ahmed plans to head to Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, after Minnesota

AMY FORLITI

Associated Press Writer

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