Addis Ababa , December 21, 2007 – The African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) warned Friday that the escalating crisis in war-torn Somalia represented one of the biggest peace and security challenges on the continent.

In a statement from the headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the AU called for greater "political will and resources" to end the conflict, which has displaced more than half a million residents of the capital Mogadishu since February.

And it criticized the international community for failing to capitalise on a lull in fighting last year, when Ethiopian-backed Somali forces recaptured Mogadishu from Islamist militants.

The AU has failed in numerous bids to restore stability in Somalia, including raising an extra 1,600 peacekeepers on top of the pledged 8,000 troops to bolster the country's weak government and secure humanitarian supplies.

The PSC agreed for all parties "both within Somalia and at the level of the international community to explore new avenues in order to effectively address the current situation and to muster the required political will and resources," to end the conflict.

The PSC said the "international community as a whole have not been able to seize the window of opportunity that arose in December," when Mogadishu was retaken.

But the militants, who melted into the civilian population, re-emerged with renewed vengeance and have waged a deadly insurgence mainly in the capital Mogadishu, where at least 600,000 civilians have been displaced since February.

The PCS wills meet by mid-January 2008 before the expiry of the mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia and plan a way forward ahead of the AU summit at the end of that month.

The three-year-old government formed in Kenya has failed to gain a toe-hold in the country in the face of in-fighting, clan-feuds and insurgency, despite international goodwill and support.

Bloody clan conflict and power struggles that erupted after the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre continue to defy efforts to restore stability in Somalia.

Source: AFP