The United States government is seeking an additional 60 million U.S. dollars from Congress to fund the 8,000 peacekeeping force and development efforts in the war ravaged Somalia, a U.S. official said here Friday.

U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger said the funds would be in addition to 40 million dollars pledged last month to support Somalia's efforts to restore stability in the Horn of African nation.

"We are seeking additional 60 million dollars from the Congress to facilitate the deployment of the African Union stabilization force and also promote national reconciliation in Somalia," Ranneberger told journalists in Nairobi.

Washington has pledged to finance efforts to stabilize Somalia, with an initial pledge to provide 14 million dollars for peacekeeping operations through the African Union.

It is also providing 26 million dollars for development and humanitarian efforts in Somalia.

"The 40 million dollars is already being spent in Somalia. The additional funds would help finance development efforts and also fund AU peacekeepers to help stabilize Somalia," said Ranneberger.

The ambassador said Washington has been encouraging the newly ensconced transitional government to expand its support base by bringing all Somali parties, including moderate Islamists and powerful clans to the negotiating table before the AU force lands in Mogadishu.

"The deployment of this stabilization force will help create the conditions of the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia. We expect the African forces to be in Somalia in the next few days, " he said.

Since Ethiopian-backed transitional government troops seized the capital Mogadishu from Islamist fighters, the government has moved slowly to fill the security vacuum.

The United Nations, Washington and AU all want to deploy African peacekeepers to stop Somalia from returning to the clan- based violence and anarchy that has characterized the country since 1991 when warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on each other.

But no country was likely to send peacekeepers into Somalia while there is fighting, which has continued sporadically since the government took over Mogadishu.

Leaders of the Islamic movement have pledged to carry on a guerrilla war as long as foreign peacekeepers are deployed in Somalia.

UN peacekeeping force including American troops met disaster in Somalia in 1992, when fighters loyal to a clan leader shot down a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and battled U.S. troops, killing 18.

Source: Xinhua