Ban Says UN May Establish Peacekeeping Operation in Somalia

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations may start planning in June to set up a peacekeeping operation in Somalia if the security and political conditions are “conducive” in the Horn of Africa nation, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.

Until then, the UN will provide funds and technical aid to both the African Union peacekeeping operation in Somalia, known as Amisom, and Somalia’s police and army, Ban said in a speech yesterday in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

Somalia has experienced “encouraging developments” this year since the election of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops, Ban said. Somalia is in its 18th year of a civil war that has forced 3 million people into exile and displaced at least 800,000.

“We are going forward in a positive direction,” Ban said. “In June and July we will evaluate security and try to establish full UN peacekeeping operations.”

The Horn of Africa nation’s Western-backed government is fighting the Islamist al-Shabaab militia for control over the nation of 10 million people. The number of people in need of aid increased by 77 percent to 3.2 million last year.

Amisom has 2,850 peacekeepers in Somalia, 1,600 from Uganda and 1,250 from Burundi, according to its Web site.

Both the AU and the UN Security Council have appealed to African nations to contribute to the mission and increase the number of peacekeepers to 8,000. Nigeria, Ghana and Malawi have failed to fulfill their pledge to contribute to the deployment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Dar es Salaam via Johannesburg at 1933 or abolleurs@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net;