UN's Somalia peace concerns

Drought in Somalia adds to instability

		By the BBC's Greg Barrow

The United Nations Security Council has recommended a series of new measures to help strengthen the peace process in Somalia, where a transitional government is struggling to maintain law and order in a still divided society.

The Council has suggested that the UN should send a new mission to the country to make a comprehensive assessment at the security situation and come up with new proposals on how the UN can assist the transitional government in the demobilisation of Somali militia groups and the training of a national police force.

Many families are close to starvation

Diplomats say the more proactive approach by the Council is a reflection of growing concern about the threat that failed states like Somalia present to global security.

Like Afghanistan, Somalia is viewed by many UN diplomats as a failed state, a place where efforts to establish a truly national government are weak, and where heavily armed militia remain in control of large parts of the country.

Greater aid needed

Earlier this month a representative of the Somali transitional government told the Security Council that if his calls for greater aid and assistance were ignored, Somalia could become another haven for international terrorist groups and drug traffickers.

That stark warning did not go unnoticed.

In a response to this and in earlier reports submitted by the Office of the UN Secretary General, the Council has recommended a series of measures designed to shore up the fragile peace process in Somalia.

Security assessment

It has proposed a UN mission to the country to make a country-wide security assessment.

It also suggests the UN should consider how it can provide further assistance in the demobilisation of militia members and the training of a Somali national police force.

Somalia has been without a central government since 1991

The Council also urges support for the Somali transitional government's efforts to control international terrorism and urges a newly set up terrorism committee to provide assistance in this regard.

Somalia may benefit from a new mindset in the international community which was shocked by the events of 11 September and is now aware that failed states are ignored at the world's peril.