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12 January 2007
NAIROBI (AFP) - The United States called for an immediate "inclusive dialogue" between all parties in Somalia and the quick deployment of peacekeepers to restore lasting peace in the shattered nation.
After weeks of heavy fighting in which a powerful Islamist movement was routed by Ethiopian troops backing the weak Somali government, the US envoy to neighboring Kenya said the steps were the only way to avoid deeper turmoil.
"The US shares with Kenya the view that this can only be achieved through inclusive dialogue aimed at ensuring a broad-based government on the basis of the transitional federal charters," Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said.
"We are urging the leadership... to reach out to all segments of the Somali society -- the business community, all clans and subclans, traditional religious leaders, non-governmental organisations and others," he said.
Ranneberger also called for a rapid deployment of African peacekeepers to support the Somali government and pave the way for Addis Ababa to pull out its forces now facing low-level revolt in Mogadishu.
"Quick deployment of an African stabilization force will enable the rapid withdrawal of Ethiopian forces without creating a vacuum," he said, pledging US assistance in an editorial in Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.
"We will work with others in the international community to assist in the development of national police and military forces that will be professional and not clan-based," Ranneberger wrote.
The comments came just a day after Washington conceded it had not killed any of its top three US-wanted Al-Qaeda suspects in an air strike in southern Somalia this week that locals claim caused heavy civilian casualties.
On Monday, a US AC-130 gunship struck "primary targets" in southern Somalia where the three Al-Qaeda suspects were believed to be hiding, but failed to kill any of them.
US officials said there were no civilian casualities, but local elders said numerous air strikes, conducted either by the United States or Ethiopian forces on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday killed around 100 civilians.
The US intervention, its first overt military operation in Somalia since the 1990s, drew international concern and came after Arab League-mediated peace talks between the largely powerless Somali government and Islamists collapsed.
The African Union is currently finalising plans to send around 8,000 east African peacekeepers to Somalia. Uganda has already pledged a battalion but no other countries have yet offered troops.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's government is the 14th attempt to restore peace in Somalia, which was plunged into anarchy after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Western intelligence agencies have warned the lawlessness has created a safe haven for extremists allied to Al-Qaeda, thus threatening the stability and security of the volatile Horn of Africa region.
