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Somalia

AU holds urgent talks on Somalia

Article published on the 2008-12-22 Latest update 2008-12-23 13:24 TU

An AU peacekeeper in Somalia(Photo:Reuters)

An AU peacekeeper in Somalia
(Photo:Reuters)

The African Union's Peace and Security Council is meeting Monday to discuss how to solve the worsening crisis in Somalia. More than 3,000 Ethiopian soliders backing the country's interim government are due to leave by the end of the month raising fears that a sudden retreat will cause chaos.

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On Sunday, AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping said other countries, including Nigeria, Uganda and Burundi, have said they will send troops.

"We want the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops to be done in a co-ordinated fashion so it happens at the same time as the arrival of AU troops," he said. "We don't want there to be a power vacuum in the country'."

The AU has fewer than 3,000 peacekeepers in Somalia. On Sunday, the East African regional group, Igad (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development), decided to impose sanctions on the Somali President, Abdullah Yusuf, after he tried to sack Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.