By Dagnachew Teklu

Addis Ababa, July 20, 2007 – The African Union (AU) Commission on Wednesday extended the mandate of about 1,600 Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia for a further six months on Wednesday hoping to quell the bloodshed.

The decision was made at the 80th AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) meeting held at the AU Head Quarters in the presence of PSC member states and invited countries.

Accordingly, the AU extended the AMISOM mandate for the coming six months to undertake its mandate of safeguarding the people of Somalia and support the TFG of Somalia to fulfill its activities as a government.

The first AU mission was started to deploy in Somalia on 5th March 2007 and its current mandate is due to be expired this month. The first AMISOM mandate was endorsed February 2007.

However, the AU gives AMISOM another six months, which will allow the mission to have other countries troops on Somalia.

"During this period-the coming six months-the commission will work towards the early deployment of the military and civilian police personnel that have already been pledged," AU said.

It also indicated that the coming six months will also allow the AU to mobilize an additional resources and troops to reach AMISOM authorized strength.

So far it is only the Ugandan troops that are on the ground in Somalia while countries that pledged to send their troops fail to send their troops due to "financial constrains." Ghana, Nigeria, Burundi and Malawi have pledged to send troops to Somalia.

The AU has a plan to mobilize 8,000 peacekeeping forces to Somalia, but there are around 1,500 Ugandan troops on the ground.

The extended mandate of AMISOM will also help the TFG of Somalia to peacefully conduct the ongoing reconciliation conference, which will stay till 45 days.

The AU also asked these countries that pledged to send troops to do so without further delay, and the international community to financially support the mission.

Somalia 's interim government wants a fully fledged U.N. force of 7,000 peacekeepers.

In related development, a major Somali peace meeting resumed in Mogadishu on Thursday, hours after explosions echoed in the capital's biggest market in the heaviest fighting in 15 days of non-stop violence.

"The conference has started. Prime Minister (Ali Mohamed) Gedi has arrived. The explosions will not deter us from continuing with the talks," a security source told Reuters.

Somali soldiers, backed by Ethiopian troops, blocked all entry points to the venue of the conference, a former police compound in bullet-riddled northern Mogadishu.

Hours before the gathering of more than 1,000 delegates, suspected insurgents fired rockets, mortars and grenades at Somali forces patrolling the sprawling Bakara market in central Mogadishu, following up with machinegun fire for nearly an hour.

The interim government hopes the much-delayed reconciliation conference will address the root causes of the bloodshed.

Diplomats say the meeting is the last best hope for the government -- a 14th attempt at forging national rule since 1991 -- to boost its legitimacy and win the support it needs to bring peace among Somalia's many factions and clans.

However, the meeting has faced a raft of criticism including charges the government has tried to evade serious power-sharing negotiations.

Source: Daily Monitor