T
he United States appears determined to prevent Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government from falling to Islamist forces said to be linked to Al-Qaeda.“We believe that it is important to do as much as we possibly can to support this TFG as one of the last opportunities for bringing about stability in that country,” Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson told the US Senate recently. Mr Carson noted that despite heavy recent attacks by the powerful Al-Shabaab insurgency, “The TFG remains standing.”The Obama administration will help sustain the government headed by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Mr Carson added. Pointing out that Sheikh Sharif is not a warlord but an educator, Mr Carson said the Somali president, who has been in office since February, “offers the best chance for a possible reconciliation and peace in Somalia that we have seen over the past decade.”The State Department’s top Africa official noted that Washington has given the TFG $10 million to establish a national security force while also contributing $135 million in support of an African Union force dispatched to Somalia in 2007. “We plan to continue this level of support in the future,” Mr Carson said in regard to the 4,800 Ugandan and Burundian troops who are protecting the TFG under the banner of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).The United Nations Security Council is also giving unequivocal backing to Amisom, which is viewed as the final bulwark against an Islamist takeover of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. The 15-member council voted unanimously last week to extend its mandate for Amisom for another eight months. The council also agreed for the first time to help finance Amisom’s operations through UN member-states’ assessed payments, with British UN Ambassador John Sawers estimating that the funding could amount to $300 million in the coming year.,..more..http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/604906/-/r315q3z/-/index.htmlRelated Stores
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