The worsening crisis in Somalia is as big a threat to global security as Afghanistan but is being ignored by the world, delegates told an African Union summit on Sunday.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the AU's annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday and again failed to pledge peacekeepers."In Somalia, recent events have tAn African Union (AU) peacekeeping force of 5,000, provided by Burundi and Uganda, is struggling to hold back the rebels. The AU has repeatedly asked for U.N. peacekeepers to bolster its efforts but has only been given funding.Somalia's U.N.-backed transitional government is fighting an Islamist insurgency and has been hemmed into a few streets of the capital Mogadishu..N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the AU's annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday and again failed to pledge peacekeepers."In Somalia, recent events have tragically shown that the conflict has a direct bearing on global security," Ban told about 30 African leaders.Later at a news briefing, Ban said the United Nations was still considering "whether conditions are right for a peacekeeping operation."Violence in Somalia has killed 21,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and uprooted 1.5 million people, a contributing cause of one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.PIRACY Heavily armed pirates from the lawless Horn of Africa nation are terrorizing shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia.Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security said Somalia was now as big a threat to global security as Afghanistan and should not be ignored."The international terrorism is the same and there is the link to the same mother organization, al Qaeda," Lamamra said. "And there is also piracy."Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told delegates he admired the work of the AU in Somalia but that it was not "sufficient.""If we do not support the transitional government more, Somalia could become a place that could destroy humanity," Zapatero said in Spanish."The proper response is a strong response from the international community, led by the U.N. Somalia is suffering."Al Qaeda's Yemen-based branch became a global security priority after it said it was behind a failed December 25 attack on a U.S. airliner, and concerns have been raised about its ties to Somalia's al Shabaab militants.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVWVkV78H2E&feature=player_embedded
Addis Ababa Ababa(Ethiopia) The Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on Saturday called on the international community to extend its support for the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, which remains within a tense security situation for 18 years.The call was made during IGAD’s 34th extraordinay session held in parallel with the on-going African Union (AU) Commission summitForeign Ministers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti and Sudan attended the session during which they discussed the prevailing situation in Somalia and the Sudan.The Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister Seyoum Mesfin, who is also the current chairperson of IGAD said that the international community’s support for peace making efforts in Somalia is crucial.Currently, the Ugandan and Burundi peacekeeping forces are in Somalia under the African Mission In Somalia (AMISOM) to stablize the TFG of Somalia, which is fighting with insurgents and the al Shabab fighters.On the ocassion, IGAD also promised to give appropriate support to the national elections and referendum to be held in Sudan in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
| OIC Meeting in Uganda Calls for End of Hostilities in Volatile Somalia |
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