Jamster Posted June 19, 2006 AU, donors push plans for Somalia peacekeepers By Tsegaye Tadesse ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) and Western countries pushed ahead on Monday with plans to send foreign peacekeepers to Somalia, despite strong rejection of the idea by Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers. The move came amid rising concern over wider conflict in Somalia following the victory of militia loyal to sharia courts over secular warlords believed backed by Washington. The Islamists now control a wide swathe of the Horn of Africa nation from coastal Mogadishu to the Ethiopian border. A meeting of the AU, the regional organisation IGAD and donor countries agreed on Monday to send an assessment team to Somalia to prepare for possible troop deployment. "There has been an agreement to move forward in sending an assessment mission led by the AU and IGAD on what is required to deploy troops to Somalia," Tim Clark, head of the European Union delegation to the talks, told reporters. "There is a real sense of urgency that the situation could unravel very, very fast unless there is a real muscular response," he said. The United Nations also expressed concern, saying a conflict could unleash a disastrous flood of hundreds of thousands of refugees to other countries. "The only thing we really do not need is a major confrontation in Somalia because that could lead to a catastrophic situation," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told Reuters in Abidjan. SOURED RELATIONS Relations between the Islamists and Somalia's weak but internationally backed government soured after the transitional parliament last week voted in support of foreign troops. The Islamists rejected the move and accused Ethiopia, a backer of the interim government, of sending 300 soldiers across their frontier, a claim vehemently denied by both Addis Ababa and the government. The transitional administration -- 14th attempt at central rule since the 1991 ousting of Mohamed Siad Barre -- has repeatedly said it cannot operate without help from foreign peacekeepers to give it security. It is too weak to enter the capital and is based in the town of Baidoa, northwest of Mogadishu. There were no details on when the assessment mission would go to Somalia. The deployment of troops would require an exemption to a 1992 U.N. Security Council arms embargo, widely disregarded in a nation awash with guns. The Addis Ababa meeting reiterated its support for the interim government and called for dialogue with the Islamists, who say they will talk but only without preconditions. The Islamic court militia have ousted warlords from Mogadishu and other towns in fighting that had killed 350 people since February. That ended 15 years of dominance by warlords who ruled much of the country in a series of private fiefdoms. The government at the weekend accused the Islamists of lying about an Ethiopian troop incursion as a pretext to attack it. Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari on Monday again denied any incursion. "There are no Ethiopian troops in Somalia," he said. "We want talks to continue but a conducive environment should be in place and not what the courts have been engaged with recently," Dinari said. The government also called for U.S. support. "I want the quick support of the United States for the Federal Government of Somalia," Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullahi Sheekh Ismail told reporters in Addis Ababa. © Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=899652006 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
