UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Security Council unanimously approved a
resolution on Thursday calling for a U.N. political presence in
conflict-wracked Somalia for the first time in years and setting
conditions for the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers.
The
resolution urged the United Nations to move its Somalia political
office from Kenya to the Horn of Africa nation. The council also said
it will consider deploying U.N. peacekeepers to replace African Union
troops now on the ground, subject to progress in improving political
reconciliation and security conditions.
That will be difficult in
a country that has not had a functioning government since clan-based
warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The warlords then
turned on each other, sinking the poverty-stricken nation of 7 million
people into chaos.
The current weak transitional government,
backed by Ethiopian troops, is struggling to quash a re-emerging
Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.
The
resolution showed the council's determination to support
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's efforts to promote a political
settlement and improved security in Somalia while holding out the
carrot of a U.N. peacekeeping force.
A massive U.N. relief
operation was launched for thousands of Somalis left starving because
of fighting after Siad Barre's ouster in 1991. But in 1993, clan
militia fighters shot down two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters and killed
18 U.S. servicemen in fighting. After that, the U.S. withdrew its
troops and the U.N. scaled back its peacekeeping operation, eventually
abandoning it in 1995.
The British-sponsored resolution was
changed at the last minute at South Africa's insistence to strengthen
the language on a future U.N. peacekeeping force.
"I am so excited! I'm over the moon!" South Africa's jubilant U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo told reporters afterwards.
"For
the first time, it's a signal that if the political conditions are
right, if the security situation on the ground is right, this council
will do something," Kumalo said. "It sends a signal to the Somali
people that we've heard their cries. It sends a signal that this
council is serious."
Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers, the
current council president, called the resolution "a step forward,"
saying it backs U.N.-supported efforts to broaden the political base of
the transitional government.
But he cautioned against immediate results.
"The
United Nations can't bring peace to Somalia overnight. It's a long,
hard road to peace in a country that has not known effective government
for 17 years," Sawers told reporters. "Many things can go wrong, but
the Security Council is backing those efforts, not just rhetorically
but in practical terms as well."
In the meantime, the resolution
calls on all countries to provide money, personnel and equipment to
fully deploy the AU force now on the ground in Somalia, known as
AMISOM. It is authorized to have 8,000 troops but currently only has
2,600 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi.
In a report to the
Security Council in March, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon raised the
possibility of the AU force being replaced by an 8,000-strong
multinational force, which could pave the way for the withdrawal of
Ethiopian troops who helped Somalia rout the Islamic movement in
January 2007. The multinational force could then be replaced by a U.N.
peacekeeping force of up to 27,000 soldiers and 1,500 police, he
suggested.
The resolution calls on the secretary-general to keep
planning for the possible deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force,
including "possible additional scenarios."
On other issues, the council condemned human rights violations in Somalia.
It
called on states and regional organizations — coordinating with each
other and the secretary-general, and with the agreement of Somalia's
transitional government — "to take action to protect shipping involved
with the transportation and delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalia and
U.N.-authorized activities."
Source:AP
