Military

DATE=10/25/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT (L-ONLY)

TITLE=SOMALIA/PEACEKKEPING

NUMBER=2-319881

BYLINE=CATHY MAJTENYI

DATELINE=NAIROBI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: AU To Decide On Peacekeepers for Somalia

INTRO: Somalia's new president has asked the African Union to send at least 20-thousand peacekeepers to Somalia to help bring law and order into his country. Cathy Majtenyi reports from VOA's East African Bureau in Nairobi.

TEXT: The African Union's Peace and Security Council is mulling over Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's request for at least 20-thousand troops to provide peace and security in his war-torn country.

Mr. Yusuf made the request during the weekend in his meeting with A.U. Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare.

A.U. spokesman Adam Thiam told VOA Mr. Yusuf was unlikely to get the number of peacekeepers he was asking for.

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"Normally, this is very unusual numbers for the African Union. You know, in Darfur, right now we have 300 troops. I guess that it will probably be a kind of compromise."

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Mr. Thiam said Mr. Yusuf asked for the peacekeepers primarily to protect the members of his new government.

Two years of peace talks in Kenya culminated recently with the selection of 275 members for a Somali assembly. They in turn elected Mr. Yusuf, who was sworn into office October 14th. The new government, currently meeting in Kenya's capital Nairobi, is expected to return to Somalia within the next month or so.

Mr. Thiam said President Yusuf told the African Union the security situation in his country is very volatile, with more than two-million small arms in circulation. The troops, the president told the African Union, are needed to help the government disarm militias and other fighters and implement its national reconciliation program.

Mr. Thiam said Somalia's new leader has also asked the African Union for economic aid.

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"It is a collapsed state with no fiscal system, with no resources, and (Mr. Yusuf) called upon the African Union to advocate for fundraising for the reconstruction of Somalia."

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European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana announced in Ethiopia over the weekend that a donor conference to raise funds for Somalia would be held October 28th in Sweden. He did not say how much monetary and other assistance Somalia needs.

Somalia fell into anarchy after Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. Since then, groups based on clan and sub-clan affiliations have controlled different parts of the country through the strength of their militias, with no central government to provide law, order, and resources to the people. (SIGNED)

NEB/CM/RAE/MAR