U.S. seeks to avert security vacuum in Somalia

The United States warned on Friday that any delays in deploying troops to Somalia would result in a security vacuum.

Speaking in Nairobi during an International Contact Group meeting on Somalia, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer indicated that Washington would be on hand to assist in any regional peacekeeping effort.

"The contact group clearly felt there should be no security vacuum in Somalia. It is urgent that we get a stabilization force in Somalia. We are making a down-payment of 40 million dollars on Somalia's future," Frazer told journalists in Nairobi.

She said the African Union (AU) was looking at a peacekeeping force modeled alongside the Burundian peacekeeping mission.

"There is no difference on approach. There is a particular model the AU is looking at. We would use the assistance of the countries like South Africa did," Fraser said.

After Friday's meeting, Frazer said the United States was adding another 14 million dollars for the peacekeeping mission and 10 million dollars in development aid.

The U.S. top diplomat for Africa said the transitional government has asked U.S. warships to seal off Somalia's sea lanes to make sure suspected international terrorists and foreign militants cannot leave or enter the country.

She hailed Kenya's role in the peace finding process in Somalia and called for enhanced security surveillance along the Somalia borders to ensure militants suspected to be cells of Al-Qaeda terror group do not escape.

The U.S. diplomat has accused the Islamic movement of harboring three suspects in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The meeting of the United States, European Union, African and Arab diplomats, known as the International Contact Group on Somalia, called on Somalia's warring groups to hold talks with all actors of Somali society to stop 16 years of chaos in the Horn of Africa country.

During the meeting, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said an 8, 000-strong African Union force agreed by the UN Security Council before the current hostilities should be deployed as soon as possible.

Source: Xinhua