U.S. strike targets al-Qaida in Somalia

NF Reporter · 01-08-2007, 09:02 PM

AP - The U.S. military launched a strike Monday against several suspected members of al-Qaida in Somalia, CBS News reported Monday.

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waltky · 12-05-2007, 10:26 AM

Ethiopia askin' for help...

Ethiopia calls for help in Somalia
December 4, 2007 -- Ethiopia calls for greater support for a peacekeeping mission in Somalia; Hopes deployment of peacekeepers will allow its troops to leave the country; So far, only Uganda has contributed peacekeepers to the U.N. mission; Recent fighting has displaced tens of thousands from the capital Mogadishu

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Ethiopia's government Tuesday called on the international community to step up its support for an African-led peacekeeping mission in Somalia, where Ethiopian troops have been mired in an Islamist insurgency since invading last December. "Ethiopia has single-handedly been playing its role by bearing the huge responsibility that the international community and countries failed to accomplish in collaboration or individually," a statement from Ethiopia's Information Ministry read.

The statement was issued as Addis Ababa prepares to host a Wednesday meeting of African regional leaders, which U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to join. Ethiopia had been counting on the deployment of peacekeepers to allow its troops to leave Somalia. So far, only Uganda has contributed peacekeepers to the U.N.-backed African Union Mission in Somalia, and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told his parliament in November that Ethiopian forces were stuck there for the time being.

"The deployment of the peacekeeping force was among the major pledges made by the international community," the government said. "However, deployment of the peacekeeping contingent was not carried out as promptly and as it was expected."

Ethiopia's invasion installed Somalia's internationally recognized, U.N.-backed transitional government in Mogadishu after a decade and a half of near-anarchy. Ethiopian troops quickly routed the provisional government set up by the Islamic Courts Union, which had wrested power from Somali warlords and claimed control of the capital Mogadishu six months earlier.

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Rice: African peacekeepers needed in Somalia
5 Dec. 2007 - Burden on Ethiopian troops needs to be lessened, Rice says; 6,000 civilians reported killed in Somalia this year; Rice also discusses Congo, Darfur at African Union meeting

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More African countries should send peacekeepers to Somalia, where an Islamic insurgency has killed thousands of civilians this year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday. Rice was in the Ethiopian capital, where the African Union is headquartered, to meet with African leaders after expressing growing unease about deteriorating security and faltering peace deals in a number of countries on the continent. The United Nations has said Somalia is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa.

Uganda has about 1,800 troops in Somalia, officially as the vanguard of a larger African Union peacekeeping force, though so far no other countries have sent reinforcements. Ethiopia, which sent soldiers to Somalia late last year to wipe out Islamic militants, is not part of the peacekeeping force and hoping to withdraw. "We do believe the Ethiopian forces should not have to stay in Somalia past a certain point, and that will require peacekeeping forces, very robust peacekeeping force, and so that will be part of my discussions here," Rice said.

Peacekeepers have tried to pacify Somalia before, with tragic results. More than a decade ago, a massive U.N. relief operation was launched for thousands of civilians left starving because of fighting in Somalia. But 1993 attacks by Somali militiamen that brought down two Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 U.S. servicemen were followed by the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the eventual end of the U.N. peacekeeping operation.

Rice, who is scheduled to meet with Somalia's new prime minister during her trip, said she will impress upon him the need be inclusive in his administration. "The Somali leadership is going to have to really reach out to all the elements that are not associated with terrorism," Rice said. "It has to be broad, and that's really my message to the prime minister. He has to find a way to broaden his base of support."

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waltky · 05-25-2008, 12:16 AM

Uganda armin' Somali rebels...

Peacekeepers In Somalia Accused Of Selling Arms To Rebels There
May 24, 2008 - A United Nations report showed peacekeepers in Uganda have been selling firearms to Islamist rebels battling with the Somalian government and Ethiopian forces there.

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BBC News, quoting the U.N. monitoring group report that was presented to the U.N. Security Council, said three other countries have been breaking the embargo. These are Yemen, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, it added. There had been allegations that a number of peacekeepers in Somalia have been trading firearms with the aid of translators, the BBC News added.

The firearms, the U.N. report said, were previously acquired from rebels. In one transaction, the soldiers were said to have received $80,000. Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa's envoy to the U.N., expressed concerns over the peacekeeper's undermining the peace process, BBC News added.

The government of Uganda had said it will probe into the accused activity. The Agence France-Presse wire agency, quoting the report, said arms traders have identified the biggest arms supplier as the "Ethiopian and transitional federal government commanders.

Peacekeepers In Somalia Accused Of Selling Arms To Rebels There | AHN | May 25, 2008