US seeks UN backing for Somalia peacekeeping force (Reuters)

US seeks UN backing for Somalia peacekeeping force
01 Dec 2006 18:50:11 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The United States will endorse African
peacekeepers to help prop up Somalia's shaky interim government in a draft
resolution to be unveiled on Friday, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said.

Washington's draft would also ease a widely ignored 14-year-old U.N. arms
embargo on Somalia to enable the peacekeepers to legally bring in arms and
train and equip local security forces, he said.

-snip-

But word of the U.S. initiative set off alarms this week when the Brussels-
based International Crisis Group and European experts warned the draft could
backfire by undermining the interim government, strengthening the Islamists
and leading to wider war.

-snip-

The group said the Security Council should not take sides in Somalia or let
neighboring countries like Ethiopia and Eritrea participate in the force.

It urged the council to instead tighten the U.N. arms embargo and encourage
government and Islamist leaders to hold talks aimed at a political settlement
of their rivalry.

-snip-