From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Jul 10 2009 - 15:03:17 EDT
Somalia's neighbours seek right to intervene
10.07.2009
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Somalia's neighbours on Friday sought to remove
obstacles to a possible intervention to support the ailing government in
Mogadishu during a regional summit in Addis Ababa.
The six-member Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) held talks
in the Ethiopian capital to reiterate its support for the transitional
federal government (TFG) led by Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
"There is ... a need to facilitate conditions that will make it possible for
the neighbouring countries to avail their support to the TFG more
effectively and in a more helpful way," Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum
Mesfin said.
The mandate of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) as
defined by the United Nations Security Council stipulates that neighbouring
nations cannot contribute to the force.
Sharif, a young Islamist leader, was elected in January following a
UN-sponsored reconciliation process and seen by the international community
as the best chance of ending Somalia's 18-year-old civil conflict.
His administration however has so far failed to assert its authority on the
country, even losing grounds to a fierce insurgency led by the hardline Al
Qaeda-inspired Shebab armed group and the more political Hezb al-Islam.
Clinging to power by its fingernails, Sharif's TFG has appealed for foreign
military intervention to fend off insurgents.
IGAD's special envoy to Somalia, Kipruto arap Kirwa, argued that the UN
resolution should be amended to authorise countries such as Kenya and
Djibouti to send troops and beef up the 4,300 Burundians and Ugandans
already deployed.
"The UN by continuing to have this resolution in place is indirectly
supporting the terrorists as it is not taking bold measures to address
challenges facing the TFG," he said.
Djibouti has already pledged a full battalion of 450 soldiers to be deployed
as soon as the UN resolution is modified.
Djibouti "has promised a battalion of 450 men for AMISOM as soon as the
restrictions in the mandate preventing neighbouring countries from
contributing are lifted," the small coastal state's foreign minister,
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, told AFP.
When the AU peacekeeping force was created in 2007, member states had
pledged a total of 8,000 troops.
Copyright C 2009 AFP. All rights reserved
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