Africa backs Somali peace force

Thursday, 12 May, 2005

The African Union has approved a controversial move to send peacekeepers to Somalia - which has split the exiled government.

But the AU said they do not yet have the $10m funds needed and troops will only deploy when it is safe.

President Abdullahi Yusuf wants peacekeepers but the warlords who control the capital oppose them.

The rift between the two sides widened after the exiled parliament backed Mr Yusuf in a vote boycotted by 100 MPs.

Somalia has been wracked by violence and anarchy for 14 years.

The AU said the force will protect the government wherever it is based, help safeguard humanitarian aid and train a new security force.

It will be composed of 1,700 Sudanese and Ugandan troops after plans to include Ethiopian soldiers were dropped.

Relocation

The MPs in Kenya approved the idea of relocating to Baidoa and Jowhar until the capital, Mogadishu, is considered safe enough to host a government.

But this idea is also strongly opposed by the Mogadishu warlords, who have all been given posts in Mr Yusuf's cabinet.

A similar vote in March was declared null and void after MPs fought in parliament - but parliamentary speaker Sherif Hassan has said the latest vote was also unconstitutional because he did not call the meeting.

More than 100 members of the 275-strong parliament are in Somalia, including the warlords who control the capital, and have refused calls to return to Kenya.

Warlords unite

In Washington, the United States and the European Union released a joint statement voicing their concern at the lack of progress.

"The Somali reconciliation process is at a critical stage. There is an urgent need for a viable agreement on relocation and security," it said.

BBC Somali section editor Yusuf Garaad Omar says the government could end up relocating to different towns, formalising the split.

Foreign donors, who have bankrolled the long peace talks, are pressing the transitional government to relocate to Somalia.

Mogadishu warlords Mohammed Qanyare Affra, Osman Ali Atto and Muse Sudi Yalahow, who have spent years fighting each, said that they would this week start withdrawing their forces from the capital and setting up a single militia force.

They say this will restore security in Mogadishu and remove the need for peacekeepers.

But some government officials fear that the force could be used against them, if relations continue to deteriorate.