ADDIS ABABA, March 11 (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) on Wednesday agreed to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Somalia for another three months. AU troops arrived in the war-torn country in 2007 shortly after an Islamist insurgency broke out. The chairman of the AU Peace and Security Council, Edouard Aho-Glele, said he hoped the United Nations would take over peacekeeping duties in Somalia at the end of that period. "We have also asked the UN Security Council to lift the embargo on armaments to the country in favour of the transitional government of Somalia, to allow it to address the security issues," he told Reuters. The new government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, was formed in a U.N.-brokered deal to end 18 years of conflict in the failed Horn of Africa state. A hardline insurgent group, al Shabaab, has vowed to continue attacking the AU troops as long as they remain in the country. Eleven soldiers from Burundi died in an attack last month. Most African nations have been reluctant to send their soldiers to Somalia. Al Shabaab, together with allied militia, control large swathes of southern Somalia including the strategic towns of Baidoa and Kismayu. The government controls only parts of Mogadishu. In a report to the council, AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping said: "I recommend that the council extend the mandate ... including protecting its personnel, installations and equipment and the right of self-defence." (Reporting by Barry Malone; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Suspected Somali pirates stand in the dock inside a courtroom in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa March 11, 2009. Nine suspected pirates arrested by the German navy officials arrived in ...
