NAIROBI, Kenya Dec 23 (Garowe Online) - A press statement jointly issued by Somali Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, an opposition leader, has called for the United Nations to deploy peacekeepers, Radio Garowe reports.

The statement, issued in Nairobi and signed by both officials, said the Somali government and the opposition faction Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) are cooperating on security as per the Djibouti Agreement.

"The two parties to the Djibouti Agreement are working on a joint security initiative as Ethiopian troops withdraw," the statement read, while encouraging the UN to send peacekeepers to maintain order.

It marks the first time the Somali interim government and an opposition faction issued a joint statement calling for UN peacekeepers, to fill the security vacuum left behind by Ethiopian troops.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recently ruled out deploying UN blue helmets to war-torn Somalia until political and security conditions on the ground improve.

Source: Garowe Online