US send weapons to Somali government to stem insurgency

Jun 25, 2009, 19:56 GMT

Washington - The United States has urgently shipped weapons and ammunition to the Somali government to help it fend off a growing Islamist insurgency, the State Department confirmed Thursday.

Spokesman Ian Kelly said Somalia's transitional government made an immediate request for the support to cope with Islamists intent on wiping out the peace process.

'What we're focused on now is these urgent needs to help the government there deal with these attacks,' Kelly said, without providing details on the type of weapons.

The al-Shabaab militants have taken on increasing strength in the long troubled Gulf of Aden nation and have enacted strict Islamic code in areas under its control. On Thursday, the insurgents publicly chopped off the right hands and left feet of four teenagers accused of theft.

The United States regards al-Shabaab as a terrorist organization and supports the transitional government led by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was appointed this year as part of a United- Nations backed peace process.

The Bush administration backed a 2006 invasion by Ethiopia to restore the transitional government after the Islamists seized power.

There are about 4,300 African Union peacekeepers in Somalia but they don't have a mandate to pursue the insurgents. The Somali government has unsuccessfully appealed for foreign intervention to stop the al-Shabaab onslaught.

An estimated 18,000 civilians have been killed in the insurgency since early 2007, while more than one million have fled. Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.