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US offers air support in Somalia
29/01/2007 11:25 - (SA)
Addis Ababa - The United States is ready to contribute air support to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, says a leading official.
US assistant secretary of state for African affairs Jendayi Frazer said that she had made the offer during talks on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa with the head of the AU commission Alpha Oumar Konare.
She said: "We are ready to provide airlift and contracting airplanes for the African peacekeeping force in Somalia. We already discussed that with Uganda, and I discussed with chairperson Konare.
"A verbal note has been addressed to the AU about the support we are ready to provide and the help we can provide to that force."
The AU had given the green light to a 7 600-strong force to deploy to Somalia at the end of the month, but the deadline was set to be missed as only three countries - Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi - had so far volunteered forces.
The cash-strapped AU member states wanted the international community to pay for the force and were also wary of being caught up in new violence in the Horn of Africa nation.
The US had called the recent ouster of Islamist hardliners from Mogadishu and subsequent replacement in power by a weak interim government as a chance for Somalia to turn its back on 16 years of bloodshed.
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