Now Playing: Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)
by Bogonko Bosire
NAIROBI, March 15 (AFP) - Nearly 100 Somali lawmakers on Tuesday warned against the deployment of a controversial regional peacekeeping force to lawless Somalia without the approval of the country's transitional parliament.
The lawmakers said the proposed 10,000-strong force -- being put together by the seven-nation east African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) at the request of Somalia's transitional government and with the authorization of the African Union -- must have parliament's okay.
"IGAD should not deploy troops to Somalia without the approval of parliament," said Abdallah Haji Ali, an MP speaking on behalf of 98 of Somalia's 275 transitional lawmakers.
"The only Somali institution allowed to approve troops is the parliament," he told reporters here after IGAD defense chiefs proposed the three-phase deployment of eight battalions of peacekeepers beginning on April 30.
"Anything outside that will be illegal and contrary to international law. For sure it will bring problems bigger that anybody expect," he said, flanked by several MP colleagues from the war-shattered African nation.
The force, which must still be approved IGAD foreign ministers, is intended to assist the Somali government relocate to Somalia from exile in Kenya, where it has been based since its creation in October due to security concerns.
Despite the government's request for the force and the AU authorization, there is international concern about its makeup and fierce oppositon to it from some Somali warlords and hardline Islamic clerics.
The United States, the United Nations -- which have had disastrous results in Somalia themselves -- and independent analysts have fears about the participation of neighboring countries in the IGAD mission.
The warlords and clerics are vehemently opposed in particular to the participation of troops from Ethiopia and Djibouti -- which along with Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and nominally Somalia make up IGAD.
The Somali MPs echoed that stance, saying troops from Ethiopia and Djibouti, countries perceived as having ulterior motives in Somalia because of their past involvement in the country, should not be included in the proposed force.
"You cannot expect somebody who was embroiled in the war in Somalia to be the one to bring an end to war," Ali said. "These two countries were part of the conflict, they cannot be part of peace."
Shortly before IGAD announced its deployment proposal on Monday in Uganda, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the current chairman of bloc, said the deployment would happen "with or without" the support of the warlords.
But the Somali lawmakers here said Museveni's comments could lead to a dangerous escalation in fighting in Somalia, which has been gripped by 14 years of anarchy since the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohammed Siad Barre.
"If Museveni goes ahead and deploys, then it will be a military adventure that might backfire on him," Ali said, noting Uganda's foray into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1998.
"He will not do what he did in eastern DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo, we will not accept it," Ali said. "Somebody should tell Museveni that Somalia is a long way away and he should come slowly."
Museveni deployed Ugandan troops in the eastern DRC in 1998 to protect Uganda from insurgents roaming there, but the United Nations and others accused his troops of looting in the resource-rich region.
bkb/mvl/nb AFP 151208 GMT 03 05
Copyright (c) 2005 Agence France-Presse
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 03/15/2005 10:29:42
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