EU eyes Somalia security training mission

The European Union announced Monday plans to set up a training mission for security personnel in Somalia, and will send a planning team to the crisis-hit Horn of Africa nation next month.

EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, decided to "explore the possibility of additional EU support to the security sector", a statement said.

"At the very beginning of next month, a formal mission of the EU will be there and we will clarify and get an agreement how to operate," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters.

He said the European Union would look at "the idea of training security forces", as well as how to help pay their salaries and boost cooperation with the African Union mission in Somalia.

The EU is currently running an anti-piracy mission in the waters of the Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast, but senior officials have long conceded that the only real way to combat the problem is to combat it on the ground.

However French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed scepticism that many other EU nations would want to take part in the mission.

"France made the proposal and the EU accepted in principle to participate in police and army training," he said, but "will other countries support us?"

"For the moment we are alone, plenty of countries have good intentions (but) France is the only one for the moment that is determined to do anything. I hope that will change," he said.

In Somalia Monday, mortar attacks by Somali rebels disrupted a parliamentary session as heavy fighting between the militia and African Union-backed government forces killed seven civilians, officials said.

The parliament was meeting for the first time since the hardline Islamist Shebab and Hizb al-Islam militias launched an anti-government offensive in May.

Mogadishu has been ravaged by years of violence that worsened two months ago when the insurgents stepped up an offensive against the internationally-backed government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

"The situation in Somalia remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world," the ministers said, condemning the attacks and expressing "deep concern over the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law."

Source: AFP