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The UN Security Council failed to agree on calling for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Somalia as key powers said the priority was a ceasefire and a resumed dialogue between warring Somali parties.
The 15-member council met in emergency session for more than three hours as Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced that more than 1,000 people had died in the fighting since his troops backing Somalia's government forces went on the offensive against powerful Islamists.
It weighed a non-binding statement drafted by Qatar, which chairs the council this month, that expresses grave concern at the recent escalation of fighting “with its possible serious consequences for peace and security in Somalia and the region.”
The text also calls on the Ethiopian-backed Somalia transitional government and its powerful Islamist foes “to immediately cease hostilities” and “resume without delay” peace talks on the basis of agreements recently reached in Khartoum.
Despite several amendments, the text was not acceptable to all members. The stumbling block was a paragraph that “demands that all foreign forces immediately withdraw from the territories of Somalia and cease their military operations in Somalia.”
Key delegations, including the United States and Britain, argued that the warring Somali parties should first cease hostilities and resume their stalled dialogue.
“The crucial thing is to have a ceasefire in place, have a dialogue which will lead to an inclusive political process and that sort of outcome which will get Somalia on its own feet is the basis on which you will get a withdrawal of foreign forces,” said Britain's UN delegate Paul Johnston.
“Simply ask for a withdrawal of foreign forces in a vacuum is not going to achieve anything,” he added.
Johnston said council members looked forward to a possible meeting of Somalia's neighbors, the Arab League and the African Union in Nairobi to discuss the crisis.
Several council members also pointed out that Ethiopian troops were in Somalia at the request of the weak but legitimate Somali government.
Council members agreed to reconsider the Qatari statement, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, the council heard a briefing from the UN special envoy for Somalia, Nairobi-based Francois Lonseny Fall of Guinea, who warned of “serious consequences” for the entire east African region if the fighting did not stop.
France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said that while he favored a withdrawal of all foreign forces, “What is important is to have a ceasefire, to have the humanitarian situation taken into account and have a dialogue resuming.”
“There will be no military solution in Somalia. The only solution is a negotiated solution,” he added.
In Washington, the United States on Tuesday defended Ethiopia's assault on Islamists in Somalia but said “maximum restraint” was needed to spare civilians.
Mainly Christian Ethiopia has justified the intervention on the grounds that the Islamist movement threatens its security, but fighting has sparked fears that a wider conflict could engulf the Horn of Africa region.
Gonzo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, said Ethiopia's offensive was intended to halt “aggressions” by the Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) movement, which the United States this month said had been taken over by Al-Qaeda.
Asked whether the United States was offering tacit support to the operation, Gallegos said: “We see and understand they are facing a legitimate and genuine security concern.”
In Addis Ababa, Meles told a press conference: “We got reports of more than 3,000 wounded in a Mogadishu hospital. Those who died are well over 1,000.”
The figure could not be independently confirmed as the Islamists have claimed killing hundreds, but AFP correspondents have seen huge numbers of bodies on the front lines.
Meles said his force had “broken the back” of the foreign-backed Islamists and forced them into “full retreat” in the wake of airstrikes and ground duels.
The Islamists however vowed to dig in for a long war with Ethiopia.
