African Union urges UN to send peacekeepers to Somalia
November 14, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — The African Union appealed to the United Nations to send peacekeepers to the troubled Somalia to help curb violence and contribute to restore security. The call also comes amid reports on Islamists progress in some parts of the country.
At its 156th meeting held on 11 November 2008, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council asked the UN “to take necessary steps to authorize the deployment of a UN peacekeeping operation in Somalia as a matter of urgency,” a statement of the AU-PSC said
Somalia is in civil war since 1991. The conflict has left at least 1.3 million displaced and nearly 40 percent of the country in need of emergency humanitarian relief.
Somalia’s internationally backed Transitional Federal Government now controls only pockets of southern Somalia and is largely supported by troops from neighboring Ethiopia. The AU currently has about 3,400 peacekeepers in Somalia who have failed to halt the fighting.
On Nov. 5, the TFG signed a peace agreement with a moderate Islamist faction that called for the formation of a joint security force and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops. The radical Al- Shabaab has rejected that agreement and is fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.
The regional peace body welcomed the signing, in Djibouti on October 26 2008, of an agreement on the modalities of the implementation of the Cessation of Armed Confrontation between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the moderate opposition Alliance for Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).
It commended the TFG and the ARS for this further step in the implementation of the Djibouti Agreement of 19 August 2008, and urged them to scrupulously comply with their commitment.
The council further noted the continued efforts being exerted by the commission to strengthen the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and once again, called on AU member states to contribute additional troops to AMISOM.
It strongly condemned recent attacks on African troops, as well as the attacks against civilians and humanitarian workers by elements opposed to the peace process.
(ST)