U.S. endorses Arab-African peace force for Somalia

[Jacaylbaro]

NAIROBI, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The United States gave its blessing on Thursday to the idea of an Arab-African peacekeeping force for Somalia to replace a small, Ugandan-only mission that has failed to stem an Islamist-led insurgency.

 

"I think that if there would be a peacekeeping force made up of other Arab nations, it would be quite satisfactory," U.S. special envoy to Somalia, John Yates, said of the proposal floated days ago by Somali government leaders in Saudia Arabia.

 

An African Union (AU) force of just 1,600 Ugandan soldiers has been in Mogadishu since March. But it remains well short of its intended total of 8,000 due to security qualms among other possible contributors, cash shortages, logistical problems and the greater attention given to Sudan's Darfur crisis.

 

Foreign diplomats, however, see beefing up a peacekeeping force inside Somalia as the only way to facilitate the exit of Ethiopian troops. They prop up the interim government but are also a pretext for violence by "anti-occupation" insurgents.

 

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf outlined the idea of an Arab-African force, under U.N. aegis, at the weekend.

 

As well as supporting the joint force idea, Yates said Burundi was to send soldiers to join the AU force in October. He added that movement on building the mission was "too slow".

 

Yates and another senior official for Somalia policy -- U.S. ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger -- were both dismissive of a recently-formed new alliance of Somali opposition figures based in Eritrea and vowing war on Ethiopian troops.

 

 

ALLIANCE SAID ISOLATED

 

The Alliance For The Re-Liberation Of Somalia is headed by former Islamic Courts leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. It also includes other members of the movement chased out of Mogadishu by allied Ethiopian-Somali government troops at the end of 2006.

 

Washington supports the Somali government, and Ethiopia is its closest counter-terrorism ally in the Horn of Africa.

 

"What was most evident is the isolation of the people in Asmara and their inability to draw together a broad-based or inclusive group," Ranneberger said of the alliance.

 

Formed by about 400 delegates, the grouping also includes former government members, ex-parliamentarians and members of the Somali Diaspora, as well as Islamists. But Ranneberger and Yates said they understood support had quickly dropped off.

 

Ranneberger said he was "very disappointed" with Islamist leader Ahmed. The U.S. official has met him twice, including after his arrest on Kenya's border following the courts' ouster.

 

"I would not say it's two strikes and out, but the ball is now in his court," the ambassador said of future dialogue.

 

At their news conference, the U.S. officials said they were checking but could not confirm Internet reports a top al Qaeda suspect -- Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, suspected of 2002 attacks in Kenya -- had been shot dead in Somalia earlier this week.

 

Speaking in general of "active and ongoing" U.S. counter-terrorism efforts in the region, Ranneberger said: "Our actions have severely disrupted al Qaeda's east Africa network."

 

The pair lauded the recently-concluded National Reconciliation Conference in Mogadishu as having made progress despite a boycott from Islamist opponents of the government.

 

Ranneberger praised proposals to draw up a new constitution, plan for 2009 elections and allow non-parliamentarians to become ministers in a move likely to help reconciliation. "The reconciliation process is not over, but this is a milestone."