World shies from action on "Africa's Iraq"

By Mark John - Analysis

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The world has no appetite for dealing with Somalia's chronic insecurity despite rushing naval ships to patrol the pirate-infested waters of the Horn of Africa nation.

Concern is growing in Europe and Africa over the risk to regional stability from the country dubbed "Africa's Iraq," while Washington has long feared a return to power by local Islamist insurgents could make it a haven for al Qaeda allies.

But the widespread pessimism over the prospects of any peace process, the lingering trauma from disastrous past interventions, and the need to put out fires elsewhere -- from Afghanistan to Congo -- have snuffed out any real will to act.

"There are no discussions in NATO on dealing with what is the root cause -- which is political instability," an alliance spokesman said of an Islamist insurgency against the forces of the internally-divided Somali government and Ethiopian allies.

A similar silence rings out in the corridors of the United Nations, the European Union and the Pentagon, still haunted by the death of 18 U.S. soldiers in a 1993 battle which marked the beginning of the end of an earlier U.S.-UN. force.

"I don't know of anyone talking about U.S. military intervention in Somalia," said one U.S. defence official. "We're watching it. But the approach has been strictly hands off. We've got enough things going elsewhere."

The U.N. Security Council has formally asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to step up contingency planning for a peace force to replace the under-resourced 3,000-strong African Union operation and monitor an August 18 peace deal.

But with opposition hardliners dismissing the accord and the violence raging unabated, a push by South Africa and Italy for such a U.N. mission has been blocked by Britain and the United States, who argue there is simply no peace to keep.