Somalia needs more peacekeepers, says UN

The international peacekeeping force in Somalia may need to be almost trebled in coming months to 20,000 troops because of the increased insurgent threat, a UN envoy said today.The envoy, Augustine Mahiga, told the UN Security Council that more international action is needed to stop foreign fighters and weapons getting into Somalia to help the al Qaeda-inspired al Shabaab militia group.
The African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), which has been defending the troubled transitional government in Mogadishu, has an authorized limit of 8,000 but is currently about 2,000 short.“The threat level in Mogadishu and in southern-central Somalia has actually increased,” Mahiga said. The African Union (AU) and East African nations “foresee a new Amisom troop level of up to 20,000 in coming months.“The AU Peace and Security Council will soon submit to the UN Security Council a request for authorization for increased troop levels for Mogadishu and other strategic locations in Somalia.”The al Shabaab Islamist militia controls much of central and southern Somalia, which has been plunged into civil war for much of the past two decades. “I am concerned by the security situation in the country and its potential impact on the entire region,” Mahiga told the Security Council. Al Shabaab has already claimed responsibility for suicide bomb attacks in Uganda in July in which more than 76 people died.He said the al Shabaab-controlled port of Kismayo “has become the entry point for foreign fighters, war material for the insurgents and has become a scene of criminal activities and illicit trade.“There is a need for increased maritime and aviation security to deter this material from being used against Amisom and the transitional federal government,” added the envoy.He praised Amisom troops for defending the government “the vital installations in Mogadishu and for
holding off the recurrent attacks by the terrorist insurgents led by foreign fighters from undermining the peace process.”Mahiga also said that the transitional government, which has a mandate running until August 2011, must make urgent efforts to overcome political infighting and increase its authority. (AFP)