UA Appeals for UN Peacekeepers in Somalia

(PANA)--Enraged by incessant attacks on troops of its mission in war-torn Somalia, the African Union Commission has reiterated its call on the UN Security Council to immediately authorise the deployment of a peacekeeping operation in the Horn of Africa country.

In a statement, the Commission said Saturday that it viewed with serious concern the alarming attacks on the position of the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeepers, which have led to thousands of the civilian population to flee Mogadishu. As a result, the attacks were causing untold suffering on the vulnerable citizens of Somalia, the Commission added.

Condemning the unprovoked attacks on AMISOM, which recently led to the death of some peacekeepers, the Commission noted that the already fragile security situation in Somalia was now worsening. ‘These unwarranted attacks constitute a breach of international law and a further threat to international peace and security,’ the Commission warned, urging the international community at large and the United Nations in particular, to censure the acts of barbarism, gross aggression and terrorism in Somalia.

According to the Commission, the UN Security Council should, in the meantime, put in place, steps to support AMISOM, both financially and logistically, so that it could carry out its immediate mandate until its transformation into the main nucleus of the proposed International Stabilisation Force (ISF) and eventually become a fully fledged UN peacekeeping force.

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