Germany's foreign and aid ministers leave for Africa

Apr 7, 2010, 13:08 GMT

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Development Aid Minister Dirk Niebel left Berlin on Wednesday for a five-day tour of Africa, with visits to Tanzania, South Africa and Djibouti planned.

Their first stop in Tanzania is to feature talks with President Jakaya Kikwete and a meeting with the president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Charles Byron.

Westerwelle is also due to open a German cultural centre, or Goethe Institute, in the port city of Dar-es-Salaam.

On Friday, the duo is to visit South Africa, where economic relations will be the focus of their meetings in Johannesburg, Cape Town and the capital Pretoria.

President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti will then receive them both on Sunday on the last leg of their trip.

Westerwelle is also to pay a visit to German military units stationed in Djibouti as part of a liaison unit with Operation Enduring Freedom, a NATO anti-terrorism deployment, and Operation Atalanta, the European Union's naval mission to protect shipping off the Somali coast from pirates.

German business people, cultural figures and aid executives are accompanying the ministers on their trip.

Earlier in the week, Westerwelle and Niebel - who are both members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP) - said the trip demonstrated their alliance to shape foreign and aid policy 'in the same mould.'

Westerwelle is leader of the FDP, which has unsuccessfully pressed Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition to merge the Foreign and Development ministries into one.