UN envoy urges Security Council to call for Somalia ceasefire
Dec 26, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — The top U.N. envoy in Somalia urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to call for an immediate ceasefire between Ethiopian forces backing Somalia’s weak government and the powerful Islamic militia that controls most of the country, saying talks are the only way to solve the conflict.
Francois Lonseny Fall, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative to Somalia, told an emergency meeting of the council that fighting has expanded across a 400-kilometer-wide area, forcing the U.N. to evacuate and halt assistance to two million people in the south and central regions affected by the conflict and recent floods.
According to reports, he said, Ethiopian and government troops are reportedly marching toward the capital, Mogadishu, from at least two directions but are still facing “stiff resistance” from Islamic fighters and their allies in several areas. Civilians have been fleeing the fighting, some seeking clan protection, and 35,000 new Somali refugees have crossed into neighboring Kenya, Fall said.
“Unless a political settlement is reached through negotiations,” Fall said, “Somalia, I am afraid, will face a period of deepening conflict and heightened instability, which would be disastrous for the long-suffering people of Somalia, and could also have serious consequences for the entire region.”
Qatar, which holds the council presidency for December, circulated a draft presidential statement to members calling for an immediate withdrawal of foreign forces, a halt to hostilities by the Union of Islamic Courts movement, and a resumption of peace talks “without delay.”
But members said it was unlikely the council would adopt the statement on Tuesday.
“I don’t think the council will do that,” said France’s U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere. “We think that the solution can be found through dialogue.”
The Security Council has backed the transitional government, and on Dec. 6 it authorized an African force to protect the government’s beleaguered leaders in the town of Baidoa against the increasingly powerful Islamic militia – but no country has yet offered troops for that force.
Somalia hasn’t had an effective government since 1991 when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another. A government was formed two years ago with the help of the U.N., but it has struggled to assert its authority against the Islamic militants.
Until now, the government hasn’t been able to extend its influence outside Baidoa, where it is headquartered about 225 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu. The country was largely under the control of warlords until June, when the Islamic militia movement seized control of the capital and much of southern Somalia.
Fall told the council that Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who called for an immediate cease-fire and resumption of peace talks on Dec. 22, spoke to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday.
“He urged a cessation of hostilities in Somalia and reaffirmed that there is no military solution to the conflict,” Fall said. “He also reiterted to the two leaders the need to encourage the Somali parties to resume peace talks without preconditions.”
Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union Commission, has called for a meeting Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, of the 53-nation AU, the Arab League, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the seven-nation East African group that the Security Council on Dec. 6 authorized to deploy troops to protect the Somali government.
Konare and the Arab League have called on the Somali parties to resume talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, without preconditions, and Konare has also appealed for an immediate cease-fire, Fall said. Various preconditions resulted in postponement of the third round of Khartoum talks in October.
Fall concluded his briefing “by urging council members to call on the two sides to halt the fighting immediately and not to take any further provocative actions.”
(AP)