AU must help Somalia

Jul 21, 2006

ETHIOPIAN troops are reported to have entered the Somali town of Baidoa as tensions continue to rise in the Horn of Africa. Though the Addis Ababa government has denied it, various reports indicate that they crossed the border into the city where the Transitional Government is based.

ETHIOPIAN troops are reported to have entered the Somali town of Baidoa as tensions continue to rise in the Horn of Africa. Though the Addis Ababa government has denied it, various reports indicate that they crossed the border into the city where the Transitional Government is based.

The interim Prime Minister has, in the meantime, accused another neighbour, Eritrea, of arming the local forces.

Somalia is in chaos again after a new force, the Council of Islamic Courts, took control of the capital Mogadishu, flushing out the warlords who had partitioned the country out among themselves since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

While the new force has been welcomed by large sections of the population, anxious for some semblance of order following a decade and a half of fractious and bloody rule, it is set for collision with the Transition Government. It was hoped, certainly by neighbouring states and world powers, that the Transition Government would take ultimate power and establish real government around the entire country. It received a lot of backing, and at one time our own UPDF was scheduled to be part of a pan-African peacekeeping force there.

Now the equation has changed, with the new forces gaining ground all the time and the Ethiopians intervening. The African Union must act expeditiously to defuse a potentially disastrous powder keg.

The AU must take a position on Ethiopia’s role; it must work towards reconciling the various local forces. It would be shameful for Somalia to lurch from one form of instability to another as Africa just watches.

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