NAIROBI, 22 February (IRIN) - Somalia has welcomed a resolution by the United Nations Security Council authorising a six-month deployment of African Union (AU) peacekeepers to the Horn of Africa country, which has had no functioning regime in more than 15 years.

"The government welcomes the statement from the UN Security Council," Information Minister Madobe Nuunow Muhammad, said. "It is long overdue but a very positive step in the right direction."

The move would hasten the restoration of law and order in the country, he added. The AU peacekeeping mission will be known as AMISOM.

"I hope there will be enough support from the major donors and major stakeholders on the ground as soon as possible," said the Security Council President, Slovak Ambassador Peter Burian.

The Council asked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send an immediate assessment mission to Somalia to determine "the political and security situation and the possibility of a UN peacekeeping operation following the AU's deployment".

The French Ambassador to the UN, Jean-Marc de la Sablière, said the council would be "open-minded" in considering a future peacekeeping mission in Somalia, but the immediate focus should concentrate on the resumption of dialogue between the parties.

"The UN is not taking over at this stage, so it is not a UN responsibility. It is an African Union responsibility, but the AU wanted to have a good sign coming from the UN and this is what we wanted to have done," said De la Sablière.

The AU Mission in Somalia is expected to comprise 8,000 troops, with Uganda expected to deploy the first 1,500 soldiers as soon as possible.

The Council called for the establishment of broad-based and representative institutions through an all-inclusive political process.

However, some Somali civil society groups described the decision as "a case of putting the cart before the donkey".

"This resolution should have been the last of three steps if it is to help Somalis," said Jama Muhammad, a member of Civil Society in Action, an umbrella organisation. "The first step should be the complete withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from the country. Secondly, a genuine political process of reconciliation and national dialogue must start, which leads to an all-inclusive national unity government."

Diplomats working on the agreement did not agree with Muhammad's assertions. Tanzania, which hosted the international contact group on Somalia in Dar es Salaam on 9 February, said the deployment was necessary.

"We discussed in great detail a peace-support mission and the need for the broad-based dialogue for reconciliation purposes by the government and all the stakeholders and the various [civil society] groups," Tanzanian Ambassador to the UN, Augustine Mahiga, told IRIN in New York. "We saw the need for a simultaneous approach that the deployment should go hand in hand with the discussion. They are really mutually supportive, and both are necessary," he added.

"You need to have a measure of security, which the government alone cannot provide at this point in time, which would send the right kind of signal that security is around but also encourage the government and the various parties to engage in a dialogue," he said.

The resolution allows for the strengthening and training of Somali security forces, in which Tanzania will take an active role, said Mahiga. His country had offered to train up to 1,000 Somali officers over the next few months.

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