BN Posted July 10, 2003 Kenya Seeks Support for Somalia Peacekeeping Thu July 10, 2003 11:48 AM ET MAPUTO (Reuters) - Kenya appealed on Thursday for international financing for a peacekeeping mission in Somalia to enforce a peace deal it hopes to reach soon in the east African country that recalls bitter memories for U.S. peacekeepers. "We are looking to the international community, to Europe and the United States to dig deep into their pockets to fund the massively important operation," Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an African Union summit in the Mozambique capital Maputo. "You cannot achieve peace in Somalia without an enforcement element," he added. Somalia has been virtually without a government for more than a decade following the ousting of President Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. Warlords from the main clans have jostled for power ever since and have sliced the country into fiefdoms. Senior officials at the African Union secretariat said Kenya preferred a pan-African force for Somalia after the botched peacekeeping effort in the 1990s by the United Nations. A U.S. attempt to restore order ended in disaster when 18 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Somali fighters and civilians were killed in a pitched battle in central Mogadishu in October 1993. Kenyan diplomat Bethuel Kiplagat is leading negotiations for a transitional government in Somalia and expects to get all the clan leaders and warlords to sign a pact before the end of July -- his latest deadline. The Somali groups have tentatively agreed to set up a 351-member parliament, comprising representatives from four big clans and one smaller clan. The parliament will elect a speaker who will preside over the election of a transitional president. Musyoka suggested that peacekeepers would go into Somalia under an African Union mandate, but with the full backing of the United Nations. Musyoka said that disarmament of all militia groups, and the demobilization and reintegration of their fighters into ordinary Somali society were the key challenges of a transition government but that was unlikely to happen without peacekeepers. Musyoka said separate talks under the umbrella of the regional east African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on ending two decades of civil war in Sudan had made substantial progress. He said the African Unions ministerial council had rejected a request by the Sudanese government for the creation of a new South African-led committee to oversee IGAD's work, saying it would slow the momentum already created. "A new committee would send a wrong signal. We do not want to go shopping for solutions, which could delay the process further. The Sudanese people deserve lasting peace and Kenyan mediators are working extra hard to try to achieve this," he said. "We are looking to a deal around August." http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3069318 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BN Posted July 13, 2003 UN Will Help Deploy Peacekeeping Forces in Somalia July 12, 2003. HornAfrik, Mogadishu, Somalia. The Kenyan president, Mwal Kipaki, who was attending the just concluded African union summit in Mozambique has held talks with the united nations general secretary Koffi Anan about the recent accord signed in Nairobi by Somali political leaders participating the ongoing peace conference there. During the talks Mr. Anan promised that the UN will help deploy peace keeping forces in Somali. He also praised president Kipaki for his efforts to end the civil war in Sudan. President Kipaki also held talks with the Djiboutian president, Ismael Omar Gelle, about the Somali peace process. Mr. Gelle has welcomed the recent accord signed in Nairobi by Somalia’s political leaders and praised president Kipaki for his efforts to get a lasting solution to the civil war in Somalia. Kenya has already appealed for international peace keeping forces being deployed in Somalia if the peace process produces an inclusive government for the country. http://www.hornafrik.com/Newspage/newsid3015.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
