Nov 1, 2004 Nairobi
The African Union is trying to figure out how to respond to last week's fighting in Somalia in which at least nine people were killed. The United Nations is also appealing for peace.
A.U. Commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare met with officials from Ethiopia and other member countries of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, known as IGAD, to ask them what actions the African Union should take following last week's fighting.
A.U. spokesman Adam Thiam told VOA the stability and prosperity of Somalia is high on the A.U. agenda, particularly now that the country has a new government.
"The Peace and Security Council of the African Union had required the (A.U.) commission to bring the soonest possible program on how best to help Somalia."
Last Friday, militias from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland clashed heavily with forces from Somaliland, an area in the north that had declared itself to be an independent country more than a decade ago.
The two areas have been clashing over their shared border for several years. It is unclear what sparked the latest battle in which at least nine people were killed.
Two years of peace talks held in Kenya to bring to an end 13 years of civil war and anarchy ended recently with the formation of a 275-member parliament. Last month, former Puntland leader Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was sworn in as Somalia's new president.
The U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia, Winston Tubman, told VOA from the Somali donor's conference in Sweden that the international community is concerned about the fighting, and says he plans to issue a statement about the situation.
"When I am passing through London on the third (of November), I hope to make an appeal to all sides to stop the fighting. The hopes of Somali people have been raised by the recent progress in the peace process and it is putting a big damper on it."
Mr. Tubman said fighting in Somalia has to stop before the international community will take the peace process and the new government seriously.
This article uses material from VOA.