East African Military Officials Discuss Controversial Somali Peacekeeping Mission

Ugandan military spokesman, Shaban Bantariza, says senior military officials from the seven-member Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, known as IGAD, are in talks in Entebbe to lay the groundwork for a Somali peacekeeping mission.

Mr. Bantariza says that IGAD officials from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, are discussing, among other things, the number of troops needed, logistics, and setting out a budget for the mission.

Mr. Bantariza: So, right now, it is the technical team of experts that is working on those finer details of that deployment, after which they will present their recommendations to the chiefs of defense forces. After that, there will be a meeting by the ministers of defense and then we can get closer to the deployment date.

The IGAD talks are in response to a request the African Union made last month to deploy an interim peace mission in Somalia ahead of a larger African Union peacekeeping force.

The goal of the interim mission is to help Somalia's nearly five month-old transitional government gain a safe foothold in the violence-plagued Somali capital of Mogadishu. On-going clashes there have prevented government leaders, including the president and the prime minister, from relocating from their current base in Nairobi, Kenya.

But Somali opposition to deploying troops from Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya has become increasingly organized and vocal in recent weeks.

On Sunday, hundreds of people demonstrated in the streets of Mogadishu, vowing to defend Somalia with their lives if peacekeepers from neighboring countries were sent. Opponents argue that Somalia's neighbors may harbor geopolitical interests, which could undermine what is supposed to be a neutral peacekeeping mission.

In a rare show of support for the United States, Somali protesters waved signs that read "America's view is the correct one." The signs referred to remarks made last Thursday by State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher, who urged Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya not to inflame Somalis by putting troops on their soil.

Many Somalis are particularly against the idea of including Ethiopian troops in the peacekeeping mission. The two countries fought a bitter war in the late 1970s over the disputed Ogaden region and relations have been tense ever since. Ethiopia has said that it would send troops to Somalia.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when a coalition of warlords overthrew the regime of Somali dictator Mohammed Siad Barre. The warlords then turned on each other, carving up Somalia into clan-based fiefdoms defended by heavily-armed militias.

In the latest violence, at least 12 people were killed and another 35 wounded on Saturday after inter-clan fighting erupted in the Hobyo district in central Somalia.

Officials of the government-in-exile have repeatedly pledged to return, only to delay the move because of security concerns.

Alisha Ryu, VOA news, Nairobi.

注释：

Entebbe [en5tebE] 恩德培[乌干达南部城市](在维多利亚湖畔)

Somali [sEu5mB:li] n. (东非国家)索马里族(人) 索马里语

peacekeeping [5pi:s9ki:piN] adj. 维护和平的，执行(或监督)停火协定的

Djibouti [dVi5bu:ti] 吉布提[非洲]

Eritrea [7eri5tri(:)E] n. 厄立特里亚

recommendation [7rekEmen5deiFEn] n. 建议

foothold [5fJthEJld] n. 立足处

Mogadishu [9mR:^B:5di:FU:] 摩加迪沙[索马里首都]

Nairobi [7naiE5rEubi] n. 奈洛比

geopolitical [7dVi(:)EupE5litikEl] adj. 地理政治学的

inflame [in5fleim] v. 燃烧

Ogaden [EJ5^B:den] 欧加登[埃塞俄比亚东南部一地区](或译奥加登)

warlord [5wC:lC:d] n. 军阀，军阀式首脑

dictator [dik5teitE] n. 独裁者，独裁政权执政者

fiefdom n. (=fief)封地，采邑