Somali leader asks Ethiopia to train forces -TV

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 6 (Reuters) Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has asked Ethiopia to train Somali armed forces after its troops helped the interim government drive out Islamists in a two-week war, Ethiopian state television said today.

''President Yusuf requested Ethiopia to train Somali armed forces, which Prime Minister Meles (Zenawi) accepted,'' the television statement said, adding that Yusuf, who met Meles in Addis Ababa, said he planned to set up an all-inclusive government.

The statement added that both leaders had appealed to the international community to provide urgent assistance to Somalia.

The statement, which came hours after hundreds of Somalis protested against the presence of Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu, did not say whether the training would affect Meles's plans to withdraw his troops within weeks.

Heavily armed Ethiopian forces helped the Somali government drive Islamists out of Mogadishu a week ago and end six months of Islamist rule across much of southern Somalia.

REUTERS PB HT2357