The United Nations said on Wednesday a U.N. team would visit Somalia this month to assess the security of its staff and operations in the lawless Horn of Africa country.
A U.N. statement said the January 15-24 tour by a seven member team would assess security for personnel, the need for access to airports and seaports and review safety guarantees for U.N. staff made by various groups in authority.
Somalia has been in the grip of rival warlords since it descended into chaos after the ousting of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
A U.N. official said the visit was the world body's biggest Somalia security review for several years but had nothing to do with possible U.S. action there in the war on terrorism and was planned before the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Somalia, named as one of the countries the United States could target in a widening war on terror, is seen by many analysts as an attractive base for terrorists seeking secrecy because it is a lawless patchwork of fiefdoms ruled by rival militias.
The U.N. official said, without elaborating, the United Nations had "many" officials, both Somalis and expatriates, working in Somalia on medical, social and humanitarian projects.
For most of the past eight years no expatriate U.N. staff have been based in the capital Mogadishu, generally considered to be the most dangerous part of the country, although they have occasionally visited the city for short periods.
Somali gunmen kidnapped nine Westerners and a Somali aid worker in March 2001 after an attack by militiamen loyal to warlord Muse Sudi Yalahow on the Mogadishu compound of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers.
All were eventually released.
Associates of Muse Sudi said the seizures took place to show the international community that Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) was not in control of the capital.
Muse Sudi belongs to an Ethiopian-backed group of warlords who say that the TNG, which controls only part of Mogadishu and only limited areas of the countryside, harbors militants allied to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, blamed by Washington for the September attacks.
Rwandan president, optimistic after Angola meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, said on Wednesday he was upbeat about reviving ties between Angola and Rwanda, backers of opposing sides in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Speaking after a two-day visit to Luanda at the invitation of Angolan President Jose Edouardo dos Santos, Kagame said the aim of the trip had been to look at ways to get bilateral relations back to pre-1998 levels and to discuss the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"In my judgment the discussion was very good, the results were very good," Kagame told reporters at Kigali's Kanombe airport. "We were very well received and we had very frank and cordial discussions, I believe with good results, but we have to keep working together."
Dos Santos was also positive after the meeting.
"We are ready to make our contribution to finding a common denominator which will allow discrepancies which still exist to be overcome, and with a view to speeding up implementation of the Lusaka accord," he was quoted as saying by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
A regional security source who had said Congolese President Joseph Kabila was in Luanda later said this was false.
Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe have backed the embattled Congolese government in Congo's civil war which erupted in 1998, while Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda have supported rebels fighting in the remote east of the vast country.
A peace deal signed in Lusaka in 1999 called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Congo. Both Angola and Rwanda have declared themselves committed to doing so.
But he cautioned that actions were more important than words.
"I think reaching agreements, in terms of statements and other things, is one thing," he said. "It's another to ensure that what you agreed is actually put into implementation."
Region in recent years have been successfully adhered to.
The war in Congo is already believed to have killed up to two million people, mostly through starvation and disease.
IN OTHER AFRICAN NEWS:
Zimbabwe army delivers blow to Mugabe rival
Zimbabwe's military and security chiefs dealt a blow on Wednesday to President Robert Mugabe's leading opponent in March elections, saying they would only back leaders who fought in the liberation wars against white rule.
"We wish to make it very clear to all Zimbabwean citizens that the security organizations will only stand in support of those political leaders that will pursue Zimbabwean values, traditions and beliefs for thousands of lives lost in pursuit of Zimbabwe's hard-won independence," Zimbabwe defense forces commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe said in a statement.
Mugabe has said that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is expected to pose the biggest challenge to Mugabe's two decades in power, did not fight in the liberation wars and has branded Tsvangirai a traitor.
"We would therefore not accept, let alone support or salute anyone with a different agenda that threatens the very existence of our sovereignty, our country and our people," Zvinavashe said.
Article copyright REAL TIMES Inc.
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