UN
chief rules out Somalia force
The time is not right to send
United Nations peacekeepers to Somalia, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
has said.
On Tuesday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a UN
force to be sent to the conflict-hit nation.
But Mr Ban said the situation in Somalia was too risky and there was
no peace to keep.
There was also very limited world support for a multinational
stabilisation force, he added, with few countries prepared to take
part.
He had contacted 50 nations - but none had agreed to lead such a
force and only one or two were willing to send troops, he said.
Somalia has not had an effective national government for 17 years,
leading to a collapse of law and order.
Ethiopia-backed government forces have been fighting Islamist
insurgents for the last two years, but the Ethiopian troops are due
to pull out next month - leaving only the 3,200-strong African Union
peacekeeping force behind.
'No peace to keep'
The danger of anarchy in Somalia was "clear and present", Mr Ban
said, and action must be taken.
But he said conditions were not in place for sending peacekeepers.
"If there is no peace to keep, peacekeeping operations are not
supposed to be there," the UN chief said.
Instead, he said, more efforts were needed on an inter-Somali peace
process and to bolster the current African Union force.
His comments came a day after the Security Council unanimously
approved a resolution allowing foreign military forces to pursue
pirates on land in Somalia.
Pirates there are currently holding more than a dozen hijacked
ships, while attacks in seas off Somalia have increased dramatically
in recent months.
The resolution gives authority for one year for countries to use
"all necessary measures" by land or air to stop anyone using Somali
territory for piracy.
Source:BBC
|