(SomaliNet) Western and African diplomats meeting in Nairobi, Kenya have issued on Friday joint communiqué calling for immediate dispatch of peacekeepers to Somalia to stabilise the country after a two weeks of clashes in which Ethiopian backed interim government forces routed Islamist fighters. The International Contact Group on Somalia, which includes the United States, European and African nations, held closed-door talks in Nairobi with Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf amid fresh concerns over Islamist threats to carry on fighting and the return of warlord militias to Mogadishu.
Earlier Yusuf had told the Group there was a rare opportunity for a real political breakthrough in Somalia, which has been mired in chaos and poverty since the overthrow of a dictator in 1991. He called for the speedy deployment of the peacekeeping force, which was approved by the U.N. Security Council before the war, and for funds for aid work and his government. "The Group felt clearly it was important there not be a security vacuum," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told reporters after the meeting, which she chaired. "We felt therefore that it was urgent to get a stabilisation force into Somalia."