UN approves more peacekeepers for Somalia

A Somali government soldier patrols the streets of the capital, Mogadishu. Kenyan ground forces captured the Somali rebel redoubt of Afmadow on Wednesday, a military spokesman said, and were closing in on the port city of Kismayu, the hub of al Shabaab militants' southern operations.

A Somali government soldier patrols the streets of the capital, Mogadishu. Kenyan ground forces captured the Somali rebel redoubt of Afmadow on Wednesday, a military spokesman said, and were closing in on the port city of Kismayu, the hub of al Shabaab militants' southern operations.

Published Feb 23, 2012

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New York - The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday boosted by nearly 50 percent an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia in a bid to intensify a military offensive against Islamist rebels in the Horn of Africa country.

A resolution increasing the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) force to 17 731 from 12 000 troops and police passed the council unanimously on the eve of an international conference in London to discuss measures to tackle instability in Somalia and piracy off its shores.

AMISOM has until now consisted of Ugandan and Burundian troops. The new increase to a large extent is accounted for by bringing under its command Kenyan forces that entered Somalia independently last October to fight the al Shabaab rebels, blamed by Nairobi for attacks and kidnappings on Kenyan soil.

Other troops are expected to be brought in from Djibouti, diplomats said, to bolster AMISOM, which although not a UN force receives authorisation and much of its funding from the United Nations.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the increased troops and financing for AMISOM “could make a decisive difference in weakening terrorism and bringing peace” to Somalia.

The force, which first entered Somalia in 2007, has claimed a series of recent successes against al Shabaab's fighters who had seized much of the east African country's centre and south. Last August, AMISOM wrested control of the capital, Mogadishu.

In a further setback for the rebels, Ethiopian and Somali forces on Wednesday captured the key stronghold of Baidoa in central Somalia. Ethiopian troops moved into Somalia in November but will not come under AMISOM and are expected to withdraw eventually, diplomats said.

Somalia collapsed into feuding between rival warlords, clans and factions after dictator Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Its weak Western-backed interim government controls only limited areas.

Wednesday's resolution will increase the UN cost of supporting AMISOM from $250-million to around $550-million a year, not counting salaries for the soldiers, which are covered by the European Union, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said.

He told reporters it would also give AMISOM a freer hand in its campaign. “For the first time it authorises AMISOM to use all necessary means to reduce the threat from al-Shabaab, and therefore to conduct more robust and offensive operations,” said Lyall Grant, whose country sponsored the resolution.

The resolution also bans the export of charcoal from Somalia, a major source of funding for al-Shabaab.

Rice and envoys from India and South Africa expressed disappointment that the resolution did not cover a naval element for AMISOM.

“We consider maritime assets valuable in achieving AMISOM's overall security objectives, and we hope this council will revisit this discussion in the coming months,” Rice said.

But Lyall Grant said fuel for four Kenyan vessels operating off Somalia's cost would be funded and their crews included in AMISOM, and only “ancillary costs in terms of wear and tear” would not be covered. - Reuters

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