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Source: Reuters -
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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged international
donors to provide more funds to help Somalia fight piracy and
restore order after two decades of anarchy.
Ban made his plea shortly before a conference began in Brussels at
which donors are being asked for more than $447 million to help
Somalia's new government boost security and stop gangs hijacking
ships off the east African country's coast.
Addressing reporters after talks with European Commission President
Jose Manuel Barroso, Ban said: "Both President Barroso and I agreed
that restoring security and stability in Somalia is vital to the
success of the reconciliation effort and the survival of the unity
government."
"Much remains to be done," he said.
Ban reiterated he had no intention of sending a UN force to Somalia
any time soon, saying a peacekeeping operation would go only when
circumstances and conditions are appropriate.
Organisers of the meeting, chaired by Ban and the African Union,
say more than $250 million is needed for next year to improve
security in a state which has functioned without a central
government since 1991 and is mired in conflict.
Also due to attend is Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a
former Islamist rebel leader elected in January at UN-brokered
talks and widely seen as the best hope for restoring
stability.
Somali officials in Brussels did not immediately comment on the
return to Somalia of hardline Islamist opposition leader Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on the US list of terrorism suspects for
alleged links to al Qaeda.
An Islamist group said on Thursday he had returned to Somalia in
his first known trip to the Horn of Africa nation since being
ousted two years ago.
Hundred day plan
The UN Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah
said he hoped the Brussels meeting, involving dozens of countries
and big international organisations, could agree on a 100-day plan
to help Somalia build up its security forces and restore
stability.
Somali gangs have made millions of dollars seizing vessels in the
Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, driving up insurance rates and other
costs in the key sea lanes linking Europe to Asia.
The attacks have worsened, despite the presence of naval forces
from more than a dozen countries, including task forces under NATO,
EU and US command.
NATO's four-ship mission is due to wind up its operation on
Thursday. Diplomats are discussing if it can be extended.
A NATO spokesman said alliance Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer was also pressing for a longer-term mission and tougher
rules to allow the detention of captured suspects.
The United States, to be represented by acting Assistant
Secretary of State Phillip Carter, is reviewing its Somalia policy
and plans to help build Somali security forces and bolster the new
government.
But Carter says Washington had learned from its mistakes in the
1990s, when a peacekeeping mission ended in shambles and a US
withdrawal, and had no desire to drive the whole process.
EU officials said the aim was to build up a police force of some
10,000 personnel and a security force of 5,000, from 3,000 and
2,000 respectively now, they said.
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