Somali Blockade in the Works

Robert Duncan

1:08 p.m.

This week, the African Union requested that the United Nations Security Council approve a full blockade of Somalia. This would include a no-fly zone over Somalia, and a naval blockade of the country’s coast. In addition to this request, the African Union’s commissioner for peace and security Ramtane Lamamra urged the UN’s security council to consider the request that the African Union made earlier in the year for the peacekeeping force to be expanded from 7,200 to 20,000. This request came with the statement that: "The international community can decide to pursue its current policy of limited engagement and halfhearted measures, in the false hope that the situation can be contained, and the international community can also decide it should step up its efforts." The UN Secretary general Ban Ki-moon has voiced his support for more Amisom (African Union Mission to Somalia) support from the UN, saying that there were “glimmers of hope” within the recent advances against the al-Shabab organization that controls much of Somalia. There have been incidents in the regions that are controlled by al-Shabab where the people within the towns have taken down the flags of the occupying forces, and replaced them with the Somali national flag, as a plea for the government to take action.

The real issue with UN backing in Somalia in my eyes is money. It appears that no country is willing to fund the peacekeeping budget that it would take to give the area peace. Truthfully, the financial strain that supporting 20,000 would put on the UN is not that large, if spread out upon some of the world’s stronger economies. The problem is that the only nations that are currently funding the effort are Italy and the United States, who are simply paying for the government forces to be trained. The al-Shabab militants are fighting to try and prevent the UN’s influence from spreading within Somalia, but, with this fight continuing as long as it has, many of the people who live in Somalia are just ready for peace. It is no secret that al-Shabab’s presence has been detrimental to the state of the people within the areas that they control, such as the fact that much of the aid that was being sent to the areas no longer is allowed to flow due to the militant state of the area.

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article36628

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/10/201010224320926838.html