African Countries Plead for International Aid in Somalia

[Liqaye]

African Countries Plead for International Aid in Somalia

 

Ethiopian and Somali leaders are calling for international peacekeepers to help stabilize Somalia. Meanwhile, Kenya bolstered border security to keep fleeing Islamists from entering the country. Experts discuss what comes next for Somalia and the region.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAY SUAREZ: Police patrolled the streets of Somalia's capital today, six days after government forces, backed by Ethiopian troops, took back control of Mogadishu from the Islamists.

 

The two sides battled for the country for two weeks. And Somalis, who have lived with no effective government for more than a decade, are being asked to turn in their weapons during a three-day amnesty period.

 

GEN. MUHAMMED ALI HASSAN LOYAN, Chief, Somali Police: The biggest difficulty which is facing us now are the weapons which is in the hands of the civilian people of the society.

 

RAY SUAREZ: The Somali presidential spokesman said yesterday an international force is needed to keep the peace.

 

ABDIRASHID SED, Interim Presidential Spokesman: It's time the international community and African Union to assist, like what they have done in Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone.

 

RAY SUAREZ: That same international community is not sure how to keep the peace or how to cobble together an international force to do it. No force has materialized, despite talk of commitments from several African nations, including Uganda, South Africa and Nigeria.

 

And Ethiopia, with an estimated 8,000 troops already in the country, will withdraw its forces within weeks, according to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

 

MELES ZENAWI, Prime Minister, Ethiopia (through translator): From our side, since we have accomplished our main mission, our main focus now will be to get our military force back home and have them participate in the battle against poverty in our country.

 

But while I say this, we also have the task of controlling the remaining extremist forces which are scattered here and there around Somalia. After completing these final tasks, it is our unchangeable stand that we should get our forces back home in a few weeks' time.

 

RAY SUAREZ: Ethiopia, Somalia's western neighbor and longtime rival, sent troops into Somalia after the Islamists seized control of the southern part of the country in June.

 

Kenya, to the southwest, has also felt the effects of Somalia's chaos. It's absorbed thousands of refugees and has now pledged to seal its borders from Islamist fighters.

 

Today, in Brussels, EU leaders ruled out a significant European role for the peacekeeping mission.

 

FRANK WALTER STEINMEIER, Foreign Minister, Germany (through translator): There are three tasks which are important. First, bringing about a lasting end to violence. The Ethiopian government has announced that their troops will withdraw. It is important that, after that, there should not be a security vacuum in Somalia.

 

Secondly, it's important that there will be an improvement in the precarious humanitarian situation, in particular for the large number of internal refugees.

 

Thirdly -- and perhaps this is the most important thing -- there has to be a return to the urgently needed political peace and reconciliation process.

 

RAY SUAREZ: Diplomats will convene again on Friday to discuss the crisis in Nairobi, Kenya.