U.S. urges fast African peace mission to Somalia

[maddezmom]

By Andrew Cawthorne
34 minutes ago



NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States appealed on Friday for a speedy deployment of African peacekeepers in Somalia to prevent a "security vacuum" that could spawn fresh anarchy after a war to oust militant Islamists.

Washington launched an air strike in Somalia on Monday aimed at an al Qaeda cell in what was its first overt military involvement in the country since a disastrous peacekeeping mission ended in 1994.

That attack killed up to 10 al Qaeda allies, but missed its main target of three top suspects, the U.S. government said.

U.S. ally Ethiopia, which is the Horn of Africa's major power, wants to withdraw its soldiers in the coming weeks after helping the interim Somali government rout the Islamists over the New Year.

But diplomats fear that would leave President Abdullahi Yusuf's government vulnerable against the multiple threats of remnant Islamists vowing a guerrilla war, warlords who are seeking to re-create their fiefdoms, and competing clans.

more;http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070112/ts_nm/somalia_conflict_dc

Fighting in Somali capital kills 6
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer
4 minutes ago



MOGADISHU, Somalia - Clan gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade and briefly exchanged gunfire with government troops outside the presidential residence in Mogadishu on Friday, leaving at least six dead.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene counted six dead bodies, and was told that one other person was killed.

Attacks against government troops and their Ethiopian reinforcements have been increasing in frequency, if not violence, in recent days. In Friday's attack, troops loyal to clan leader Mohamed Qanyare Afrah fired on militiamen loyal to the president, who belongs to a rival clan.

"Gunmen have fired one rocket-propelled grenade at one of the entrances of the presidential palace in villa Somalia. The people in the area have fled," said Mohammed Said Dore, who was in the area. "Then security forces and Ethiopian troops manning the site exchanged fire with gunmen for around ten minutes. After that the gunmen fled."

more; http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_af/somalia

[maddezmom]

1. CSM: Can African peacekeepers tame Somalia?

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA AND KAMPALA, UGANDA - Pushing Somalia's Islamists out of power in Mogadishu took less than two weeks for Somali government and Ethiopian forces. Keeping them out, and keeping the peace in the midst of what some say is becoming an Iraq-style insurgency, could be a much more difficult job.

Western money will help to foot the bill, but it will be African peacekeepers, from countries like Uganda, Nigeria, and South Africa, who risk their lives in Somali towns that haven't known peace for more than 15 years. The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday backed the speedy deployment of an African peacekeeping force.

Sending African troops may please Western powers, but it doesn't go down well at home, where poor African countries like Uganda and Nigeria have myriad problems of their own, from unemployment and illiteracy to ongoing domestic conflicts. And, while many see the moment as an opportunity to provide African solutions to African problems, the failure of the African Union peacekeeping force to provide security in Darfur, Sudan, is not an promising sign.

"What we've learned over the years is that if you want peacekeeping, you have to have peace, and you don't have it in Somalia," says Alex de Waal, an Africa expert at the Social Science Research Council in New York. "That's the reason the African Union mission has failed in Darfur, and it's the main reason the proposed UN mission for Chad is also problematic."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070112/wl_csm/osomforce_1