UN Security Council approves Somalia peacekeepers

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 21 (Reuters) The UN Security Council has authorized an African Union peacekeeping mission for Somalia for six months as mortar attacks pounded the capital and the northeast African country spiraled further into chaos.

The resolution, adopted unanimously by the 15-member body yesterday, gave African Union troops the go-ahead to take military action if needed to provide government, infrastructure and humanitarian security, and to train Somali security forces.

The council also asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to investigate a possible U.N. peacekeeping operation after the African Union deployment and to report back within 60 days with recommendations for further U.N. involvement in Somalia.

''The deployment of the African Union is a start,'' South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo told the council.

''We hope this signals the international community, through the Security Council, will also in the coming months be able to deploy to help the Somali people help rebuild their country.'' Over Christmas and New Year, Somali forces backed by Ethiopia's military routed Islamist troops in a two-week war in the country, which has been in chaos since 1991 when it became a patchwork of feuding warlords after a dictator was ousted.

But frequent attacks blamed on ousted Islamist hard-liners have put pressure on the interim government, which is trying to restore stability so that Ethiopian troops can return home.

A wave of pre-dawn mortar attacks killed at least 16 people in the capital Mogadishu yesterday in one of the most brutal bombardments since the Islamists were forced out of the city.

SHORTFALL IN TROOP PLEDGES In the British-drafted resolution, the Security Council condemned ''all acts of violence and extremism inside Somalia, deploring the recent bombings in Mogadishu and expressing its concern regarding the continued violence inside Somalia.'' The council on February 2 welcomed an African Union offer to send peacekeepers to Somalia and urged it to do so quickly after Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he wanted to withdraw his thousands of troops.

African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit said last week that Uganda, Nigeria, Burundi, Malawi and Ghana had offered to send soldiers. But only about 4,000 of the 8,000 troops called for have so far been pledged.

''But the international community can only help the emerging peace process in Somalia,'' Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told the Security Council. ''Sustainable peace and development will depend ultimately on the Somalis themselves.'' The council also in part lifted a 1992 arms embargo but said the import of weapons was to be used only for the African Union force.

Outside experts hired by the Security Council reported last year that Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Syria had provided illegal weapons to the Islamists, while Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen helped supply the interim government.

The Security Council resolution reiterated its intention ''to consider taking measures against those who seek to prevent or block a peaceful political process, threaten the transitional federal institutions by force or take action that undermines stability in Somalia or the region.'' Since their defeat, the Islamists, who had held Mogadishu for six months, have scattered to southern Somalia and Kenya, some vowing a long guerrilla war against the government.

Reuters PDS VP0655