UN intends to establish Somalia peacekeeping force
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UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday expressing its intention to establish a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia, but putting off a decision for several months in order to assess the volatile situation in the Horn of Africa nation.
The resolution adopted by the council renewed the mandate of the African Union force, known as AMISOM, that is currently deployed in Somalia for six months. It urged African nations to beef up its troop strength from the current 2,600 to the 8,000 originally authorized.
It expressed the council's "intent to establish a United Nations Peacekeeping Operation in Somalia as a follow-on force to AMISOM, subject to a further decision of the Security Council by June 1, 2009."
Somalia is currently at a dangerous crossroads. The president resigned in late December, saying he has control of most of the country to Islamic insurgents. The Ethiopian troops who have been protecting the fragile, U.N.-backed government are pulling out, leaving a dangerous power vacuum. Islamic groups are starting to fight among themselves for power.
The council asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to prepare a report by April 15 that would assess "developments in the situation in Somalia, progress towards the full deployment and strengthening of AMISOM with a view to transition to a (U.N. peacekeeping operation), progress in the political process and security conditions on the ground."
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The African Union and the United States have been pushing for months for a U.N. peacekeeping force, but finding troops for a multinational force for Somalia has been difficult.
Ban said last month he had asked at least 50 nations and three international organizations to support the council's request for a multinational force to stabilize Somalia and the replies were "very lukewarm or negative."
Somalia has been beset by 18 years of anarchy, violence and an Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives. Foreigners, journalists and humanitarian workers are frequently abducted for ransoms, and the United States fears the country could become a haven for al-Qaida.
The resolution adopted Friday asks Ban in the April 15 report to develop the mandate for a U.N. force including facilitating delivery of humanitarian aid, monitoring a cease-fire and assisting "in supporting the effective re-establishment and training of inclusive Somali security forces, including military, police and judiciary."
The council made clear in the resolution that ultimately Somali security forces "would assume full responsibility for providing security in Somalia."
The resolution also asks the secretary-general to establish a trust fund to provide financial support for the African Union force until a U.N. force is deployed, and to assist in restarting the training of a Somali security force.
Last year, Somalia's weak transitional government agreed to share power with a faction of the country's opposition, the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, a relatively moderate group that split from the al-Shabab extremist group which has been at the center of the Islamic insurgency.
The agreement has not changed the political chaos in Somalia because al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, did not participate in the U.N.-brokered talks.
The U.S.-drafted resolution stresses the need to create the conditions for the U.N. special representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, "to continue to make progress on the political process."
It demands "that all states in the region refrain from any action that might contribute to instability in Somalia or the Horn of Africa region."
It also reiterates the Security Council's "intention to take measures against those who seek to prevent or block a peaceful political process, or those who threaten participants in the political process by force, or those who undermine stability in Somalia or the region."
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