the United States is supportive of the idea of a deployment of such a force

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

US to Propose UN Resolution on Peacekeeping Force for Somalia

By Meredith Buel

Washington

27 November 2006

 

The United States expects this week to unveil a draft U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of African peacekeepers to strengthen Somalia's weak interim government. As VOA correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Washington, at least one international research group says such a move could spark a wider conflict in the Horn of Africa.

 

 

Somalia

A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, Ben Chang, told VOA the United States plans to submit the draft resolution on Somalia later this week.

 

He confirmed the resolution would authorize the deployment of a regional military force and exempt that entity from the existing U.N. arms embargo on Somalia.

 

As word began to circulate about the proposed resolution, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group released a statement saying the deployment of such a force in Somalia could backfire.

 

The group says an intervention force should be sent to Somalia only if all the warring factions in the country support the idea. It warned such a move could undermine Somalia's fragile transitional government, strengthen the rival Islamist group and lead to a wider regional war in the Horn of Africa.

 

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, while not discussing details of the resolution, deflected the criticism.

 

"We have an interest in seeing greater stability in the Horn of Africa," said Sean McCormack. "We do have a strategy. We are working with other interested states as well as neighbors in the region. With due deference to their opinion, we believe we are pursuing the right strategy."

 

Somali Islamists seized the capital, Mogadishu, last June and have rapidly expanded their power throughout southern and central Somalia.

 

The interim government, which is recognized by the United Nations, controls only the town of Baidoa, in south-central Somalia.

 

The Islamists say they are trying to bring law and order to the country, which has been without a functioning government for more than 15 years.

 

The Islamists vehemently oppose foreign peacekeeping forces, saying they will wage a jihad, or holy war, against any foreign troops on Somali soil.

 

Neighboring Ethiopia and the United States both accuse the Islamists of having ties with the al-Qaida terrorist group.

 

The Bush administration believes the Islamists are harboring suspects wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

 

The Executive Director of the U.S.-based Somali Justice and Advocacy Center, Omar Jamal, says he believes his country needs a foreign peacekeeping force to end years of turmoil.

 

"Any existence of a stable government's business is to provide security for the citizens," said Omar Jamal. "I think by that it gives a chance for the government to build its army and police so they can provide a basic service that any government or any state is supposed to provide, which is to provide a secure environment for its citizens."

 

The proposed U.N. resolution for deployment of a regional military force in Somalia has the support of African members of the Security Council.

 

The draft resolution could be submitted as early as Wednesday.

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[Naxar Nugaaleed]

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Posted 11/27/06 18:44

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U.S. Eyes Regional Peacekeepers For Chaotic Somalia

By IRWIN ARIEFF, REUTERS, UNITED NATIONS

 

 

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Since World War II, Americans have been the world’s true revolutionaries, expanding the frontiers of human liberty by fighting and winning the cold war. But now that we’re fighting the much more complicated war on terror, many observers wonder if our glory days are behind us.

 

The United States expects to unveil this week a draft Security Council resolution authorizing African peacekeepers to help prop up Somalia’s shaky interim government, U.N. diplomats said on Nov. 27.

The resolution would approve deployment in the shaky northeast African nation of a joint peacekeeping force put together by the African Union and the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), as the two groups have requested.

The text, being prepared in consultation with Britain, would also ease a U.N. arms embargo to enable both the peacekeepers and interim government security forces to legally obtain weapons, said the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the resolution was not yet in final form.

But even before its debut in the 15-nation council, the measure has kicked off a lively debate over whether it would help stabilize Somalia, as Washington and London hope, or trigger wider fighting, as European Union experts and a major international think-tank have suggested.

"We are still in consultation on the situation and at this point I’d rather not comment publicly. But we are very actively making progress, and I would hope within a couple of days we might have something that we are prepared to say publicly," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said when asked about the draft.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group, in a report released on Nov. 27, warned the text could backfire on its supporters by undermining the transitional government, strengthening rival Islamists and leading to wider war.

A regional intervention force should be deployed only if it is supported by all warring factions, the group cautioned, encouraging the Security Council to instead press both the interim government and Islamists to agree to a cease-fire and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Somalia.

ARMS EMBARGO: TIGHTEN OR EASE?

The United States has accused the Islamists, which have been expanding their reach after seizing the Somali capital of Mogadishu in June, of harboring al-Qaida operatives.

Washington has also warned that neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia could be targets of extremist elements from Somalia.

Ethiopia says it has sent a few hundred military trainers into Somalia to guard against a possible Islamist attack.

But a recent U.N.-commissioned report says it has deployed thousands of troops in Somalia.

The report by the U.N. Monitoring Group for Somalia said the move could fuel rather than dampen instability in the region and called instead for bolstering the U.N. arms embargo through increased border surveillance.

An early version of the U.S. draft resolution appeared aimed at legitimizing the Ethiopians’ presence, diplomats said, spurring protests from European Union experts as well as the International Crisis Group, which warned that neighboring states should never be a part of regional peacekeeping forces.

A more recent draft has taken a step back from embracing the Ethiopian troops already in Somalia, the diplomats said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States was working with a number of different countries "on a number of different strategies" to try to increase stability in the Horn of Africa.

With due deference to outside critics, "we believe we’re pursuing the right strategy," he told reporters.

 

 

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