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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Jul 27 2010 - 09:17:51 EDT
UN says Somalia peacekeeping mandate adequate
08:12, July 27, 2010
<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/7081400.html>
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The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia Augustine
Mahiga said there is no need to change the current mandate of the African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) from peacekeeping to peace enforcement.
Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs quoted
Mahiga as telling a closed door meeting on Monday also attended by three of
the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, United States, France
and Britain that the current mandate is adequate in addressing the situation
in Somalia.
"It was his view that under the existing mandate, the forces on the ground
could act in a more responsible but robust fashion," Carson told reporters
after the meeting attended by the presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Somalia,
Djibouti, Tanzania, prime minister of Ethiopia and other foreign ministers.
Uganda and the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) have been
calling for the change of the mandate saying that the situation in Somalia
warrants peace enforcement and not peacekeeping.
The meeting which was called to assess the situation in Somalia agreed that
there is need for more troop deployment in Somalia.
"We came away even more united to work together to help strengthen the TFG,
AMISOM, and the forces for stability in Somalia," he said.
Okello Oryem, Uganda's minister of state for international affairs told
Xinhua in an interview that Uganda is negotiating with other African
countries to send troops to Somalia.
He could not give details of which countries have pledged saying the talks
are still at the infancy stage.
Jean Ping, chairperson of the African Union Commission told reporters here
on Friday on the sides of the ongoing AU summit here that Guinea and
Djibouti are ready to deploy troops.
He said that he had also requested South Africa to send troops.
Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have deployed about 6,000
peacekeepers in Somalia.
Defense experts say that more than 20,000 troops are needed in order to
stabilize the volatile country which has suffered prolonged war.
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