NAIROBI, 23 May 2006 — Somalia’s Cabinet has approved a plan to allow peacekeepers into the country, a contentious issue at the heart of a paralyzing rift in the government.
The decision, made on Sunday in the temporary government headquarters in Baidoa, was approved by all 34 Cabinet members who were present. The remaining eight ministers, including four Mogadishu warlords who oppose the plan, did not attend.
Those four warlords are busy in a growing battle with Islamist militias — who also oppose foreign peacekeepers — for control of the capital Mogadishu, which has killed at least 250 people in three bouts of fighting since February.
“The National Security Plan, which in part includes the deployment of peacekeepers to Somalia, was endorsed by the Cabinet yesterday,” government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said by phone from Baidoa.
The peacekeepers would come from Sudan and Uganda. The deployment requires UN Security Council approval, because it would involve an exemption from an arms embargo in place since 1992. It also requires parliamentary approval. Parliament has been given the plan and is expected to debate it before it will be taken to the Security Council for discussion on July 17, Dinari said.
