UN backs peace force for Somalia

The African peacekeepers are likely to face opposition in Somalia

The UN Security Council has voted to authorise a regional force to bolster Somalia's weak government, which is under pressure from Islamic militias.

The US-led resolution, co-sponsored by Congo, Ghana and Tanzania, also urged the government to resume peace talks.

The agreement also called for the easing of a 1992 arms embargo to allow Somali government forces to re-arm.

The resolution supported an 8,000-strong mission from the seven nations of east African body, IGAD.

The resolution, adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council, said Somalia's transitional government represented "the only route to achieving peace and stability" in the country, which has been without effective central government since 1991.

Spiralling conflict

The peacekeepers will face strong opposition from the Union of Islamist Courts, which seized the capital, Mogadishu, in June before taking control of much of the south and centre of the country, imposing strict Sharia law.

But outgoing US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said not intervening was not an option.

"The other option is that the instability we have seen in Somalia for over 15 years would spread to the region," he said.

"I think the choice of doing nothing is really not a choice at all."

The aim of the force would be to protect transitional institutions located in Baidoa, some 250km (155 miles) north-west of the capital, Mogadishu.

Experts worry a spiralling conflict could spill over into other countries in the Horn of Africa.

The fear in particular is that Ethiopia and Eritrea will come into conflict because they support opposite sides and might see in Somalia another battleground in which to continue the intermittent war over their own border dispute.

Washington also fears the Islamists are offering shelter to al-Qaeda operatives, a charge they deny.

BBC News