THE Security Council hailed a recent UN-brokered inter-Somali peace deal and restated its readiness to consider deploying UN peacekeepers in the lawless Horn of African country.
It unanimously adopted a non-binding statement that reaffirmed its willingness to deploy "at an appropriate time" a peacekeeping operation to take over from the African Union mission to Somalia, AMISOM, "subject to progress in the political process and improvement in the security situation on the ground".The 15-member body recalled UN chief Ban Ki-moon's contingency planning for a UN integrated peacekeeping mission in Somalia, "which recommends that plans are put in place for the deployment of an international stabilisation force". It called on Mr Ban "elaborate on his contingency plans and provide, in consultation with the parties and other relevant stakeholders, a detailed and consolidated description of a feasible multinational force, its mandate and derived tasks".It further asked the UN chief to urgently approach states that can contribute financing, personnel, equipment and services necessary, and it called upon states to "respond favourably".he council welcomed the August 9 signing of the Djibouti Agreement reached last June by Somalia's Ethiopian-backed transitional federal government (TFG) and the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS). It underlined "the crucial importance of the parties taking all necessary measures to ensure, without delay, unhindered humanitarian access and assistance to the Somali people, and of the parties and their allies terminating all acts of armed confrontation".The Council reiterated its strong support for AMISOM and again pressed the world community to provide support and resources for the full deployment of that mission. Last August, the council voted unanimously to renew for another six months the mandate of AMISOM, which has tried to bring some semblance of order to Mogadishu. AMISOM has been in Somalia since March 2007 and is to ultimately number 8000 men. It is currently made up of 2600 Ugandan and Burundian troops. Some leading Islamist officials and military commanders have rejected the UN-brokered Djibouti accord, insisting that Ethiopian troops propping up the Somali government unilaterally pull out of Somalia before peace talks can start. The Horn of Africa country has been plagued by an uninterrupted civil war since the 1991 overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre. A string of previous peace initiatives and truce deals have failed.
It unanimously adopted a non-binding statement that reaffirmed its willingness to deploy "at an appropriate time" a peacekeeping operation to take over from the African Union mission to Somalia, AMISOM, "subject to progress in the political process and improvement in the security situation on the ground".The 15-member body recalled UN chief Ban Ki-moon's contingency planning for a UN integrated peacekeeping mission in Somalia, "which recommends that plans are put in place for the deployment of an international stabilisation force". It called on Mr Ban "elaborate on his contingency plans and provide, in consultation with the parties and other relevant stakeholders, a detailed and consolidated description of a feasible multinational force, its mandate and derived tasks".It further asked the UN chief to urgently approach states that can contribute financing, personnel, equipment and services necessary, and it called upon states to "respond favourably".he council welcomed the August 9 signing of the Djibouti Agreement reached last June by Somalia's Ethiopian-backed transitional federal government (TFG) and the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS). It underlined "the crucial importance of the parties taking all necessary measures to ensure, without delay, unhindered humanitarian access and assistance to the Somali people, and of the parties and their allies terminating all acts of armed confrontation".The Council reiterated its strong support for AMISOM and again pressed the world community to provide support and resources for the full deployment of that mission. Last August, the council voted unanimously to renew for another six months the mandate of AMISOM, which has tried to bring some semblance of order to Mogadishu. AMISOM has been in Somalia since March 2007 and is to ultimately number 8000 men. It is currently made up of 2600 Ugandan and Burundian troops. Some leading Islamist officials and military commanders have rejected the UN-brokered Djibouti accord, insisting that Ethiopian troops propping up the Somali government unilaterally pull out of Somalia before peace talks can start. The Horn of Africa country has been plagued by an uninterrupted civil war since the 1991 overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre. A string of previous peace initiatives and truce deals have failed.
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