Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, warning that Somalia could slide back into being a failed state, called Tuesday on countries around the world to provide the African Union-led peacekeeping force there with attack helicopters and armored troop carriers to take the fight to Al-Shabab militants in the field.| Sure Ban, whatever we don't send to Syria, Libya, Pakistain, Afghanistan, Iraq or Egypt we'll send to Mogadishu. We'll get right on that... |
"The political, security and development gains made so far in Somalia are still reversible," Ban said in a report to the Security Council. The al-Qaida-allied terrorist group Al-Shabab "continues to undermine security throughout the country, including in Mogadishu."
"Allowing Al-Shabab to continue its training and conduct terrorist activities from bases in Somalia will not only undermine peace in Somalia, but also that of the wider region," he said.
The AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia — known as AMISOM — is endorsed by the U.N. Security Council and is meant to pave the way for an eventual U.N. peacekeeping force. It is led by Ugandan officers, and also has large Kenya and Burundi contingents. It has more than 17,000 troops.
The United Nations has especially been stung since Al-Shabab attacked the U.N. compound in Mogadishu on June 19, killing a U.N. Development Program staffer, thee U.N. contractors, four Somali guards and at least six Somali bystanders. It was the first direct attack on a U.N. building in Somalia since 2008.
Since then, the international aid group Doctors Without Borders has pulled out of Somalia, citing increasing dangers there. Al-Shabab militants still control much of the country's south.