Somali insurgents on Wednesday warned against the impending deployment of African peacekeepers,  as families began burying their dead after some of the heaviest violence to hit the capital city this year. Just hours after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to authorise an African Union (AU) force to help stabilise Somalia, one insurgent leader said they will fight any foreign troops who are sent into the country. | "The UN should keep its hand off our country because the Islamist forces are ready to fight any foreign troops whether they are blue helmet or black helmet." |
"The UN should keep its hand off our country because the Islamist forces are ready to fight any foreign troops whether they are blue helmet or black helmet," said the insurgent leader, who bravely asked to be identified only as Osman and who claimed to be part of a newly formed extremist group called the Popular Resistance Movement in the Land of the Two Migrations.
| The longer the group's title the more fearsome it is. |
The UN hopes the 8,000-member AU force can stabilise the country following the ouster earlier this year of an Islamist movement that controlled much of southern Somalia since June. The deployment is also meant to prevent a vacuum of power and allow the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces that supported Somalia's weak transitional government in battles against the Islamist fighters. The peacekeepers will have to confront the growing violence that has plagued the capital, Mogadishu, since the battle with the Islamic Courts Union.
Fifteen people were killed and 45 wounded on Tuesday in deadly cross fire between Somali government forces and Ethiopian troops battling against radical elements of the ousted Islamist group. Hundreds of families have begun fleeing the capital and hospitals say they are struggling to cope with the daily influx of wounded. Meanwhile, the city's powerful warlords are said to be buying new weaponry. The UN resolution urges the 53 African nations to contribute troops to the 8,000-member force and urges other UN member states to provide financial support and any needed personnel, equipment and services. |