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Editorial
Friday, December 19, 2008
December 19, 2008: On Wednesday, the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon admitted that the possibility of sending peacekeeping troops to Somalia is at the moment impossible.
In a word, the UN has thrown in the towel on possibilities of salvaging the country from the warlords who have torn it into pieces since the 1991 coup.
While it was quick to pass a resolution to pursue pirates who have been prowing the Gulf of Aden waters for ransom into Somalia territory, it is a pity that there is no agreement on how to enforce peace.
That not only gives the warlords the green light to continue with their wayward manners, but also sends a signal to them that they are beyond the touch of the international community.
Our worry is that the UN is sacrificing Somalia at the altar of semantics. This is not the time to debate whether Somalia needs peace-keeping troops or peace-enforcing troops.
The UN Charter gives it mandate to pursue and instal peace among the body of nations and to end anarchy in its midst.
And that is why the UN Charter in Clause 1 succinctly says that the role of the UN is “to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace..”
But it appears that the UN secretary -general is facing a hard task trying to convince nations to send UN peacekeepers.
Of the 50 nations he has approached, none wants to take a leading role in Somalia. Of the 15 Security Council members, only one is willing to provide funding, airlifts and all other equipment.
The international community must know that peace-loving Somalis want their country back.
The failure to establish a multinational force at a time when Ethiopia has announced that it will withdraw its troops is a huge set back.
Ethiopia has been the lifeline of the transitional government in Baidoa.
Also in Somalia are the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) troops numbering not more than 3,500 and who are trying to restore peace as unprovoked attacks increase. This number is way below the authorised 8,000 troops given growing incidence of chaos and also piracy off the coasts of Somalia.
With Islamic insurgents continuing to take major towns, the future of Somalia peace efforts and the Transitional federal Government (TFG) are in a quandary.
With the pirates operating in a much larger area and with improved armaments and tactics, Somalia will not only need strong naval response to sweep the international sea lanes clear of the pirates, but will also need peace-enforcing troops to support the efforts. Unless these two are tackled in tandem, the latest efforts will come to naught.
From the UN, the Somalis deserve their country back.