November 1, 2001
The United Nations, fearful Somalia could deteriorate into a terrorist haven, scrambled on Wednesday to find ways to help restore peace and security to the deeply splintered northeast Africa nation.
A formal statement approved by the U.N. Security Council asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to come up with ideas on how the world body could help demobilize Somalia's sparring militia and train police to firm the transitional national government's grip on the capital Mogadishu. The council also asked Annan to carry out an in-depth assessment of the security situation, in hopes of clearing the way for a political peace- building mission to be set up in Somalia.
To the consternation of many of Somalia's neighbors, Annan has for the past year declined to set up such a mission, concluding from preliminary security assessments conducted from nearby Nairobi, that the government could not assure the safety of U.N. staff.
The object of a failed joint United Nations and United States peacekeeping mission between 1993 and 1995, Somalia has had a transitional government -- its first in a decade -- in place since August 2000. But the government controls only sections of Mogadishu, with most of the country still dominated by warlords and clans, who have been fighting each other since ousting President Siad Barre in 1991.
Earlier this month, Ali Khalif Galaid, Somalia's prime minister, came to U.N. headquarters to urge the world body to help put his country together again and help fight terrorism so it did not become a haven for clandestine networks. But on Monday, Somalia's parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the transitional national government, giving President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan 30 days to nominate a new prime minister. Parliamentarians said they were unhappy over the government's failure to bring security to the country and bring down rampant inflation after a year in office.
In its statement approved on Wednesday, the 15-nation Security Council urged world governments to scrupulously comply with a U.N. embargo on arms sales to Somalia and to help it combat international terrorism. The statement also urged neighboring countries to help Somalia rebuild its shattered governmental institutions while keeping out of its internal affairs.
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