AU envoys in Somalia to discuss peacekeepers deployment

Jan 14, 2007 (MOGADISHU) — An African Union delegation was in Somalia’s capital Sunday to discuss the deployment of international peacekeepers as government troops expanded a house-to-house search for weapons in one of the world’s most dangerous and heavily armed cities.

Mohamed Foum, the A.U.’s special representative for Somalia, said nine delegates arrived in Mogadishu on Saturday for meetings with leaders of the U.N.-supported transitional government in this chaotic Horn of Africa nation.

“A team has gone to take a look and to get information that will help us devise a plan for peacekeepers,” Foum said.

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf needs to establish enough calm so foreign peacekeepers can deploy to protect his government until it can form an effective police force and army.

Troops loyal to the interim government, with critical help from the military of neighboring Ethiopia, last month routed an Islamic militia that had controlled much of southern Somalia since summer.

But insecurity remains a problem in a country whose 7 million people haven’t had an effective government since clan warlords toppled a longtime military dictatorship in 1991 and then turned on each other.

Fighting between clan militias over pasture and water for livestock in an area 90 miles northwest of Mogadishu killed at least 20 people since Thursday in rural central Somalia, clan elders and witnesses reported.

The U.S. and E.U. have offered financial help for an African peacekeeping force intended to keep Somalia from sliding back into clan fighting and anarchy. So far, no African government has responded to the push to form an 8,000-man mission, although Uganda has indicated it is willing to send 1,500 soldiers as part of a wider mission.

The only other nations possibly willing and able to provide troops are South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and perhaps Senegal. But all already provide peacekeepers for operations around the world, and South Africa and Nigeria especially are spread thin.

And no country will send peacekeepers into Somalia if there is fighting.

A U.N. peacekeeping operation in Somalia in the early 1990s saw clashes between foreign troops and warlords’ fighters, including the downing of two U.S. Army helicopters and killing of 18 American soldiers in a 1993 battle. That clash led the U.S. to withdraw from Somalia in 1994, and other U.N. peacekeepers were gone by the next year.

The A.U. visit comes as Somali troops and allied Ethiopian soldiers are struggling to disarm Mogadishu residents reluctant to give up their guns after years of fending for themselves in the chaos.

Hassan Mohamoud said soldiers entered his house early Sunday and took his Kalashnikov assault rifle.

“I bought the gun about 10 years ago in order to safeguard myself and my family,” he said. “But now I worry about whether the government will take responsibility for our safety.”

Another resident, Abdi Yusuf, said some children had thrown stones at the troops, but the situation was calm. “The soldiers did not react,” he said.

Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said the search was taking place in several neighborhoods but he refused to comment on the number of weapons seized, saying it was a military secret.

On Saturday, Somalia’s acting parliament voted to allow the government to impose martial law for up to three months, but Dinari said he didn’t know when Yusuf would sign such a decree.

The spokesman also said he had no details about reported airstrikes Saturday by Ethiopian jets on at least one village in the south. A traditional elder in the area reported at least three civilians were killed.

The air attack came a day after Ethiopian-backed government forces reported capturing the last stronghold of the Islamic movement, Ras Kamboni at the southern tip of Somalia. But officials said further fighting was likely as troops pursued Islamic militiamen in that area.

Dinari said Sunday that government troops had captured Muslims from Chechnya, Eritrea, Sweden and Britain who were fighting for the Islamic movement.

Four Kenyans who returned from Somalia after the Islamic militia was routed reportedly were arrested and accused of being terrorists.

A member of Kenya’s parliament, Abdillahi Sheik Dahir, called the arrest a mistake, saying Saturday that the men were businessmen who went to Somalia to buy cheap cars before fighting erupted last month.

“These are innocent businessmen with nothing to do with al-Qaida,” he said.

(AP)