Somalia Militants Warn of Possible War

A banner is displayed during a protest in Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday, Dec 4, 2006. Hundreds of people demonstrated at Mogadishu Stadium in a protest against the U.S. proposed draft U.N. resolution on easing an arms embargo on Somalia. The angry demonstrators chanted anti-American slogans and carried banners and placards denouncing the U.S. proposals that could also allow regional peacekeeping troops to go to Somalia. (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nur) (Mohamed Sheikh Nur - AP)

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Islamic militants in control of most of southern Somalia warned Thursday that war will erupt over a U.N. decision authorizing an African force to protect the country's virtually powerless government.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the resolution Wednesday, hoping to restore peace in Somalia and avert a broader conflict in the region. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedis welcomed the decision and urged its immediate implementation.

The resolution also partially lifts a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia so the regional force can be supplied with weapons and military equipment and train the government's security forces.

But a spokesman for the Islamic movement said the resolution will introduce sophisticated weapons into Somalia and provoke a war between his group and the government.

"We see the approval of the resolution as nothing but an evil intention," Abdirahin Ali Mudey, spokesman for the Islamic Courts, told The Associated Press.

Mudey accused the Security Council of giving the Somali government's main ally, Ethiopia, permission to occupy the country, and said his movement would now reconsider attending peace talks with the government scheduled for later this month.

"The international community has proven to be biased and unjust," he said.

The resolution bans Somalia's neighbors _ Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya _ from sending soldiers. In a possible indication that countries may be hesitant to contribute forces, Uganda said it may hold off until the security situation improves. Deputy Defense Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said the situation had changed since Uganda first backed the peacekeeping proposal in January 2005.

It is the only country thus far to volunteer troops to the force.

"It may be that we will think of holding off until the terrain is not so hostile for Ugandan forces," she said, although she called the lifting of the arms embargo "a first step."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned the situation has to be handled very carefully.

"I would hope that those who are going to be sending in troops will find a way of engaging the Somali parties, to let them know that they are coming there to help them to stabilize the situation, to help their people, and they are not coming in as an invasion force of any kind," he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.