Brussels, 17/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The stabilisation force in Somalia should "be led jointly by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations and have Muslim soldiers among the troops", Louis Michel explained to the committee on development of the Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg on Monday evening. The principle behind a peacekeeping force, which could be deployed "fairly quickly" according to the Commissioner in charge of Development and Humanitarian Aid, had been included in resolution 1725 which was adopted in early December 2006 by the United Nations Security Council. It could be deployed by the end of January, the Somali Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, announced on Tuesday, even though currently, only Uganda has committed to provide 1500 men, whereas South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Malawi have raised the possibility.
Fearing a situation of instability and civil war, like Iraq, the President of the committee on development, Luisa Morgantini (GUE/NGL, Italy), said that "Ethiopian intervention did not bring peace and, on the contrary, contributed towards a radicalisation of the conflict". Glenys Kinnock (PES, UK) said that the AU, which is already carrying out peacekeeping missions in Rwanda and Tanzania, "would not be capable of deploying forces without any further aid in terms of logistics and troop training". Why not set up "an AU army, which would help Africa to resolve its own conflicts", her EPP-ED compatriot, Nirj Deva, suggested. "The disarmament operations which have been carried out to date have been failures", put in Karl von Wogau (EPP-ED, Germany), President of the sub Committee on defence and Security, who would like to "think about the rule which the EU can play in a stabilisation force ".
Over and above the 16 million EUR which goes towards rehabilitation and reconstruction every year, the Commission is prepared to make a further 15 million EUR available in favour of the international stabilisation mission, and a further envelope of 36 million EUR for immediate actions in 2007 in favour of disarmament, reintegration and institutional capacity, amongst other things, the Commissioner pointed out on Monday, further to his meeting with Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden (EUROPE 9344). In Brussels on Monday in his capacity as President of the interim Somali Parliament, the latter was ousted from his position on Wednesday, the Somali MPs turning against him for having made several attempts to negotiate a peace agreement with the Islamists at the end of last year, contrary to the views of the interim President, Abdullahi Yusuf. The leader of the interim government, Ali Mohammed Gedi, had on Tuesday reiterated that no negotiations were possible with members of the Union of Islamic Tribunals (UIT) who have been hounded out of Mogadiscio, whereas the international community is ardently in favour of a political reconciliation progress including members of moderate religions. (ab)