Annan tells neighbours Stay out of Somalia

NAIROBI, Nov 15 (Reuters) Neighbouring states should not meddle in Somalia, where their support for the government or its Islamist rivals risks inflaming an already volatile situation, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

A study commissioned by the United Nations accused 10 countries and various established militant groups of fuelling a rapid military build-up in the Horn of Africa nation.

''An already difficult and volatile situation could be further complicated by neighbouring countries rushing in with troops or guns to support one side or the other,'' Annan said.

''It will only compound the problem, so I would urge them to stay out,'' he told reporters in Kenya.

Somalia's weak interim government and Islamists, who captured Mogadishu from US-backed warlords in June, have been vying for control of the country which has not had a functioning government since 1991's ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Talks to resolve the Somali crisis have so far failed to produce a breakthrough. Annan called on the government and Islamists to avoid any further confrontation or military action and resume talks.

''The people of Somalia have suffered for a long time,'' Annan said. ''It is a country that has been in crisis .... and can be described as a 'failed state'. But it will recover.'' The new report to the UN Security Council said at least seven nations were providing weapons and military supplies to the Islamists, who aim to rule Somalia through sharia law, and three were arming the largely impotent transitional government.

Since June, the main violators of a widely ignored 1992 arms embargo had been Ethiopia and Eritrea, who are backing the government and Islamists respectively, the report said.

But the report said Djibouti, Egypt, Libya and Saudi Arabia also provided support ranging from weapons to money and military supplies including medicine to the Islamists.

The report says Yemen shipped loads of weapons to the government, and Uganda provided equipment and an unspecified number of soldiers to bolster the government.

REUTERS PB RK1750