UN raises Somalia bombing concerns

10/01/2007| IslamWeb

The United Nations secretary-general has expressed concern that US air strikes in southern Somalia could increase hostilities and harm civilians.

Ban Ki-moon's warning came as The Associated Press news agency reported more US attacks on suspected al-Qaeda fighters in the country on Tuesday.

A US intelligence official said that five to 10 people were killed in the latest attack.

"The secretary-general is concerned about the new dimension this kind of action could introduce to the conflict and the possible escalation of hostilities that may result," a UN spokeswoman said.

A Somali politician said 31 civilians, including a newlywed couple, died in Tuesday's assault by two helicopters near Afmadow, a town in an area of forested hills near the Kenyan border 350km southwest of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

A Somali defense ministry official described the helicopters as American, but the local witnesses told The Associated Press they could not make out the identification markings on the aircraft.

Washington officials had no comment on the reported air assault.

Al-Qaeda targeted

US forces carried out an air strike in southern Somalia on Monday, targeting what it believed to be the "principal" al-Qaeda leadership in the area.

A US intelligence official told Reuters news agency that an al-Qaeda member suspected of involvement in the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania may have been killed in the raid.

"We don't know which one is the one at the moment," the official said. "I don't think we got all three. Of the senior guys, people are looking at one."

Colonel Shino Moalin Nur, a Somali military commander, told The Associated Press that at least one AC-130 gunship had attacked a suspected training camp on a remote island at the southern tip of Somalia. Somali officials said they had reports of many deaths.

US defence department officials, speaking privately on Tuesday, suggested that the military was either planning or considering additional strikes in Somalia.

'Hunting suspects'

With the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower now positioned off Somalia's coast, commanders can call in strikes from fixed-wing aircraft such as the FA-18. Defence department officials said that, as of Tuesday, no carrier-based aircraft had conducted strikes in Somalia.

Abdullahi Yusuf, the Somali president, said the US was hunting suspects in the 1998 embassy bombings and had his support.

Meanwhile, Somalia's deputy prime minister has called for US special forces to enter Somalia to flush out al-Qaeda suspects.

"The only way we are going to kill or capture the surviving al-Qaeda terrorists is for US special forces to go in on the ground," Hussein Aideed told The Associated Press. "They have the know-how and the right equipment to capture these people."

Aideed, a former US marine, said that underground bunkers have been dug in virtually inaccessible areas of the country making it almost impossible to capture them.

African peacekeepers

The UN secretary-general has also called for the speedy deployment of African peacekeepers to the country, and welcomed Ethiopia's statement that it intends to withdraw its forces "expeditiously".

Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said he told Ban on Monday that a UN peacekeeping force may be needed to guarantee security and stability in Somalia, which has not had a functioning government for 15 years.

Solana said Ugandan forces may be the first deployed to replace Ethiopian troops, but he said the African Union is already carrying a "very heavy" peacekeeping burden in Sudan, and the United Nations may have to step in instead of the AU and take over the next phase.

On December 6, the UN Security Council authorised an African force to protect the transitional government against the Union of Islamic Courts, which had taken control of the capital and most of southern Somalia. The council also committed to training Somali government troops, and lifted a UN arms embargo for the African troops.

The UN spokeswoman was asked by reporters whether the US bombing violated the arms embargo. She said the council would be discussing Somalia on Wednesday and that the UN is trying to gather more information about the action in southern Somalia.

PHOTO CAPTION

Interim Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (C) sits with his Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi (R) and Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle inside the presidential palace in Mogadishu. (AFP)