Somalis appeal for foreign peacekeepers


By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jan 1, 2:45 PM ET



MOGADISHU, Somalia - Ali Said Omar has lived in Mogadishu long enough to know that the only lasting condition in this seaside capital is war.

"Somalia is like an unexploded bomb," the peace activist said Monday, a week after the government drove out a militant Islamic group and took over this notoriously violent city.

But many here believe the only chance for real stability in Somalia lies with international peacekeepers — not with the government, which controlled just one town before Ethiopia intervened in the past 10 days and provided the administration with tanks and MiG fighter jets.

"There is a power vacuum already," said Omar, 29. "Everybody has taken his own weapons back. How can the government say it's in control?"

Mogadishu has been in a state of wary calm since government and Ethiopian troops rolled in on the heels of a fleeing militant group, the Council of Islamic Courts. Shots from Kalashnikov rifles and machine guns ring out daily on the sweltering, pockmarked streets, and three warlords who once ruled the city are back in town.

Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi acknowledges his government needs the assistance of an international force, but the idea is fraught with tension.

A U.N. peacekeeping force, including U.S. troops, had arrived in 1992, but the experiment in nation-building ended when fighters loyal to clan leader Mohamed Farah Aided shot down a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and battled American troops, killing 18 servicemen.

Senior Western diplomats are pushing for an African-led peacekeeping force in Somalia as soon as possible to help stabilize the country, said a U.S. government official on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak to the media.

Uganda said it had a battalion of 1,000 troops ready to go in a few days. Nigeria has also promised troops, Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.

A group of seven regional countries, known as IGAD, proposed a peacekeeping force for Somalia two years ago, but fighting inside the country prevented a deployment. The United Nations endorsed the plans last month, but the violence again made any deployment impossible.

The push comes as the government tries to establish its presence in the capital for the first time.

Gedi said that, starting Tuesday, Somalis have three days to surrender their weapons before his troops "forcibly extract" them — an immense and wildly ambitious plan in a country awash with guns after a 15-year civil war.

A weekend explosion that killed a woman near the Ramadan Hotel heightened fears that Islamic fighters still in the city were planning an Iraq-style guerrilla war.

The Islamic group's strict interpretation of Islam drew comparisons to the Taliban in  Afghanistan, although many Somalis credited it with bringing a semblance of order to a country that has seen little more than anarchy for more than a decade.

"I don't think anyone will be able to bring security and stability like the courts did," said grocer Hamdi Nur Kabiye, 28. "But if anyone can bring order to this chaos, I will welcome them, even if they are foreign troops."

Several Mogadishu residents said they want international peacekeepers — if only to get rid of the Ethiopian troops. Predominantly Muslim Somalia and Ethiopia, with its large Christian population, fought a war in 1977.

At the seaport, Ethiopian soldiers stood next to a tank, smiling and taking pictures.

Hawa Osman, a mother of three, said their presence was humiliating. "I haven't eaten for three days," she said. "I'm not happy that my country is under occupation."

Somalia has been without effective government since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other.

Allowing peacekeepers into Somalia was among the issues that divided the Cabinet last year. Some warlords-turned-ministers said Somalia did not need outsiders. They went to Mogadishu to prove they could make it secure, but failed.

Omar Mohamed Abdulle, 49, a lawyer who works for a non-governmental organization, said peacekeepers should not be concerned about a repeat of the killings from 1993, which inspired the book and movie "Black Hawk Down."

"Back then, the warlords were all-powerful and they were against the peacekeepers," he said. "Now, the peacekeepers could help prevent this country from returning to civil war."



Link

Total shithole
Unfortuantely we already have feet on the ground

I say we give them this kind of Peacekeeper, of the LGM-118a variety.

Well duh...

Cuz they're getting their asses whooped.

Make a large crater, start over.

Repeat as necessary until the "violence" ceases.

Ethiopian troops patrol in Mogadihu airport on 29 December. Somalia's Ethiopian-backed government has said its troops would force the surrender of the last holdout of its Islamist foes, who rejected an offer of talks from Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.(AFP/File/Peter Delarue)

Ethiopian tanks are seen in Mogadishu airport on 29 December. Somalia's Ethiopian-backed government has said its troops would force the surrender of the last holdout of its Islamist foes, who rejected an offer of talks from Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.(AFP/File/Peter Delarue)

Ethiopian soldiers ride an army vehicle on their way to Mogadishu, 28 December 2006. Somali government forces marched on the last stronghold of the country's powerful Islamist movement, even as Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi called for dialogue with Islamist leaders.(AFP/File/Peter Delarue)

O rly?  Well fuck you; you made your choice 13 years ago you worthless fucks.

No way in hell.

From Mark Steyn's latest column:

www.suntimes.com/news/steyn/191774,CST-EDT-STEYN31.article

Both Somali troops and various foreign jihadists have thrown off their uniforms and melted into the general population. Granted, that's what they did in Iraq and Afghanistan, too: They're shrewd enough to understand it's not worth engaging superior militaries on their terms; better to wait awhile and grind them down in a dirty messy insurgency. Well, we'll see about that. One difference between the Ethiopians in Somalia and the Americans in Iraq is that the former aren't fighting with one hand behind their back just in case some EU ally or humanitarian lobby group or fictitious Associated Press source leaks some "war crime" or other to the media. In fact, the Ethiopians have the advantage of more or less total lack of interest from the Western media. So they're just getting on with it. And, given the potential for Islamist destabilization of their own country, they were wise to do so. The "international community" has reacted in the usual ways: calls for immediate cease-fires so that an ineffectual U.N. force of peacekeepers can go in and enjoy their customary child sex with the locals while propping up the Islamists. The Ethiopians can't be blamed for not taking the U.N. seriously.

Quoted: A group of seven regional countries, known as IGAD, proposed a peacekeeping force for Somalia two years ago, but fighting inside the country prevented a deployment. The United Nations endorsed the plans last month, but the violence again made any deployment impossible.

Somalia and Ethiopia going at it?



LMAO,Go Ahead and Pound it Out.Third World Dirt Bags

Oh, so now you want foreign peacekeepers.....hahahaha....no.

No.

Should havethought about that before they attacked all the UN peacekeepers in the 90's.

Quoted: Quoted: A group of seven regional countries, known as IGAD, proposed a peacekeeping force for Somalia two years ago, but fighting inside the country prevented a deployment. The United Nations endorsed the plans last month, but the violence again made any deployment impossible.

a real gem, isn't it.

Oh, so now they want foreign forces on their ground; thanks but no thanks; one BHD is enough for us; let the Africans deal with it; is their F-ing mess, they can clean it up themselves.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: A group of seven regional countries, known as IGAD, proposed a peacekeeping force for Somalia two years ago, but fighting inside the country prevented a deployment. The United Nations endorsed the plans last month, but the violence again made any deployment impossible. a real gem, isn't it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw the stupidity in that statement...

"we wanted to send in PEACEKEEPERS but we coun't cause people were fighting...

The correct title would read

"Muslim Terrorists beg for UN troops to allow them to regroup and rearm"

Quoted:

This gentleman has the right idea.

I vote they both are wiped of the planet....

Their fucking savages, let'um rot!!!

You want what ?
Sure, please send in the entire UN and the counsel too, then we can
Get rid of all three at the same time.

Quoted: The correct title would read "Muslim Terrorists beg for UN troops to allow them to regroup and rearm"

Yep
that's about it
No, they had their chance.
And I'm glad the Islamists are out, but still no chance ever for peace there.
ever

Quoted: Make a large crater, start over. Repeat as necessary until the "violence" ceases.

I wonder where people get the idea that the US is willing to kill en masse to advance its interests and avoid thorny problems, while preaching 'freedom' in iraq since we're on the political hook.

Fuck 'em.

Quoted: O rly?  Well fuck you; you made your choice 13 years ago you worthless fucks.

Exactly what I was thinking.

They had a shot at a good peacekeeping force years ago, but decided to side with the warlords instead.

And then they cheered while dragging the bodies of CMOH winners through the streets.

...And now they want more peacekeepers?

To hell with that.

With deep thought and pondering, taking all sides into consideration, I think the best think I could say is:





meh...

Quoted: No way in hell.

+1.  Where are the great civilized countries of Europe?  Shouldn't they be doing this?

Oh NOW they want our help, when feeding 'em just wasnt enough in the early nineties.

I wonder if this has anything to do with Ethiopia kicking their asses right now
Let 'em burn, Ethiopia, Fuck Yeah!