Somali extremists threaten peacekeepers

Extremists in Somalia warned today they would try to kill any peacekeepers deployed to the country.

In a video tape posted on the official website of Somalia’s routed Islamic movement, a hooded gunman read a statement saying that any African peacekeepers would be seen as invaders.

The video warning comes as African leaders met in neighbouring Ethiopia to discuss the deployment of 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia. So far only three nations – Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi – have pledged about 4,000 troops.

“Somalia is not a place where you will earn a salary – it is a place where you will die,” one militant, carrying an assault rifle and dressed in military fatigues said in the warning to the peacekeepers. “The salary you are seeking will be used to transport your bodies.”

Five other hooded gunmen were visible, armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Earlier, at the African Union summit, Ethiopia’s President Abdullahi Yusuf told journalists that the peacekeeping troops would be deployed soon, although he gave no exact timeframe.

Fears are mounting that the country could once again be plunged back into civil war without a peacekeeping force to replace withdrawing Ethiopian troops.

The African Union is looking to send in an 8,000 strong force to help support the transitional government, but only three nations have pledged troops so far.

President Yusuf also said he planned to hold a national reconciliation conference in Somalia to try to end the bitter feuding among rival clans.

The move comes weeks after Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops, tanks and warplanes ousted a rival Islamic movement that had threatened to take control of the country.

“The peacekeeping force from the African Union will come soon,” Yusuf said today on the sidelines of the summit attended by 35 African leaders.