UN Security Council approves Somalia peacekeepers
Source: Reuters
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council authorized for six months an African Union peacekeeping mission to Somalia on Tuesday as mortar attacks pounded the capital Mogadishu and the northeast African country spiraled further into chaos. The resolution, adopted unanimously, calls on African Union troops to take "all necessary measures" to provide government, infrastructure and humanitarian security and training for Somali security forces. The council also asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to investigate a possible U.N. peacekeeping operation following the AU deployment and to report back within 60 days with recommendations for further U.N. involvement in the country. The resolution condemns "all acts of violence and extremism inside Somalia, deploring the recent bombings in Mogadishu and expressing its concern regarding the continued violence inside Somalia." Somali forces backed by Ethiopia's military routed Islamist troops in a two-week war in the country -- which has been in chaos since 1991 when it became a patchwork of feuding warlords after a dictator was ousted -- over Christmas and New Year. But near daily attacks blamed on ousted Islamist hard-liners have put pressure on the interim government, which is struggling to restore stability so Ethiopian troops who helped it take the capital can return home. A wave of pre-dawn mortar attacks killed at least 16 people in Mogadishu earlier on Tuesday in one of the most brutal bombardments since the Islamists were forced out of the city. The Security Council on Feb. 2 welcomed an African Union offer to send peacekeepers to Somalia and urged it to do so quickly after Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said last month he wanted his thousands of troops out "within weeks." AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit said last week that Uganda, Nigeria, Burundi, Malawi and Ghana had offered to send soldiers. But only about 4,000 troops of the 8,000 troops called for have so far been pledged. The U.N. Security Council resolution, "decides to authorize members states of the African Union to establish for a period of six months a mission in Somalia, which shall be authorized to take all necessary measures to carry out" its mandate. It also lifts a 1992 arms embargo and says the import of weapons are to be used by this force only. Outside experts hired by the Security Council reported last year that Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Syria provided illegal weapons to the Islamists while Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen helped supply the interim government. The resolution "reiterates its intention to consider taking measures against those who seek to prevent or block a peaceful political process, threaten the transitional federal institutions by force or take action that undermines stability in Somalia or the region." Since their defeat, the Islamists -- who held Mogadishu for six months after seizing it in June -- have scattered to southern Somalia and Kenya, some vowing a long guerrilla war against the government.
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