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| Africa Horn |
| AU asks UN for Somalia blockade |
| 2010-10-24 |
| [Al Jazeera] The African Union (AU) has asked the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Security Council to approve a no-fly zone and naval blockade of Somalia. Ramtane Lamamra, the AU's commissioner for peace and security, said the move would deter pirates operating off the country's coast and prevent fighters and shipments from reaching the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab group, and other groups fighting to topple the largely powerless UN-backed government. He also urged the Security Council to support the boosting of its African Union Mission to Somalia (Amisom) to 20,000 troops from the current level of 7,200, mostly fom Uganda and Burundi. "The international community can decide to pursue its current policy of limited engagement and halfhearted measures, in the false hope that the situation can be contained ... the international community can also decide it should step up its efforts," he said. 'Glimmers of hope' the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, signalled his backing for increasing the resources of Amisom, saying that recent advances against al-Shabaab and other such groups showed there were "glimmers of hope" in Somalia and called on the council to take "bold and courageous decisions". Somali government troops launched an offensive last Sunday to take back areas held by al-Shabaab. Ban said reports that the residents of a town near the Kenyan border, Belet Hawo, were taking down al-Shabaab flags and replacing them with Somali national flags "are signs of the Somali people's yearning for peace and security". The interim goverment controls just a few blocks of the capital, Mogadishu, and some small other areas, while bands of Islamic bandidos, such as al-Shabaab, control much of the rest of the country. Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim, the Somali foreign minister, told the security council that the government fully supports the AU's strategy and that it needed assistance to build up the army and police. "We all know that there's no better people who can defend their countries except their own people," Ibrahim said. "Therefore give us the means, support us in forming our police and army to really be in a situation to really confront the extremism, both the terrorism and piracy in our own country." |
| Posted by:Fred |