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Somalia

French government to double food aid to Somalia

Article published on the 2008-05-06 Latest update 2008-05-06 16:21 TU

Somalian President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.(Photo : AFP)

Somalian President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.
(Photo : AFP)

France has promised to double its food aid to Somalia to about seven million euros, after President Nicolas Sarkozy met with his Somali counterpart, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in Paris. The Somali President asked for military help to halt fighting in his country. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Paris would offer logistical and maritime support as part of international efforts to combat piracy along the Horn of Africa, but ruled out sending any ground troops.

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Kouchner said France had already trained 2,000 soldiers in Burundi and moved them to Somalia, but ruled out sending soldiers immediately. The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia also wants a United Nations force to be deployed in the country. The official visit to France came after President Ahmed Abdullahi Yusuf met the United Nations and the US administration in the United States.

France has pushed for an international initiative to crack down on piracy after pirates hijacked a luxury yacht with French citizens onboard off the Somali coast in April.

The six pirates who were captured by French troops, are currently awaiting trial in France. The Somali opposition holds that France doesn't have the legal mandate to try them, because there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.

The meeting in Paris came ahead of talks in Djibouti on 10 May between the TFG and the armed and political opposition. The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia has again demanded that the TFG give them a time table for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia before negotiations start.

Ethiopian forces came to the rescue of Somalia's transitional government in late 2006 and defeated the Islamist Islamic Courts movement which had taken control of large parts of the country.

They have since fought against government forces, their Ethiopian allies and African Union peacekeepers, mainly in Mogadishu. Meanwhile, human rights groups say at least 6,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting over the past year.