African leaders mull Somali force

African Union leaders have discussed sending a peacekeeping force to Somalia to prevent chaos, on the final day of a summit in Ethiopia. *

The AU wants to send an 8,000-strong force to replace departing Ethiopian troops, whose intervention swept Islamists from power last month. But so far only three nations have come up with concrete offers of troops. On Monday, AU commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare said peacekeepers were needed to prevent renewed conflict.

"If African troops are not in place quickly, then there will be chaos," he said in his opening remarks to the summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. "We need 8,000 soldiers, today we have hardly 4,000. We cannot simply wait for others to do the work in our place."

On the sidelines of the summit, European Union Development Commissioner Louis Michel said that interim Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf had agreed to hold a national reconciliation conference of clan and religious leaders in the coming weeks. Mr Yusuf, however, refused to confirm this. The US and the UN have urged Mr Yusuf to include moderate Islamists in his administration.

Possible peacekeepers

Nine battalions proposed - up to 9,000 troops: Uganda : 1,500 troops offered, subject to parliamentary approval Malawi: Up to 1,000 troops offered Nigeria: 1,000 troops offered Ghana: Reportedly offered troops Tanzania: Considering Rwanda: Considering South Africa: Not sending troops

In December, thousands of Ethiopian soldiers were sent to help the weak Somali interim government oust the Union of Islamic Courts which had controlled much of southern and central Somalia for six months. But Ethiopia says it is seeking an early withdrawal from the country and has already begun pulling some of its troops out.

The fear, says the BBC's Adam Mynott, is that unless insecurity is contained quickly, then Somalia will slip back to the anarchic misrule which has prevailed in the country for the past 16 years. So far three countries - Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi - have offered to contribute troops, while a number of other countries are reported to be considering it.

AU peace and security commissioner Said Djinnit told the BBC that troops from more countries were needed. "I think we have made some progress because we are at the point where we are putting together conditions for an early deployment of at least the first three battalions," he said.

"And we are also in the process of creating logistical and financial conditions but we do hope that during the debate at the summit there'll be more pledges or more commitment to participate in the African Union mission in Somalia."

Climate change

On Monday, the AU summit focused on the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. Some 200,000 people have died and more than two million have fled their homes since the start of the four-year conflict. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir was again bypassed in his bid to become AU chairman because of the violence in Darfur.

Instead, Ghana's President John Kufuor was chosen to lead the continental body for the next year. Mr Bashir met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday, but has so far resisted pressure to allow UN peacekeepers go to Darfur to help the beleaguered AU force there. The AU is also discussing how climate change will affect Africa but the conflicts in Somalia and Darfur have distracted most people's attention.

BBC