Peace force proposed for Somalia as Qaeda threatens

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Western and African diplomats called on Friday for the urgent deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia as al Qaeda's deputy leader urged defeated Islamists to launch an Iraq-style insurgency against Ethiopian forces there.

The Islamists took control of much of southern Somalia in June but have now been forced into hiding after being routed from their strongholds by Ethiopian military defending Somalia's interim government in two weeks of full-scale warfare.

They have vowed to fight on, melting into the hills in Somalia's remote southern tip where Ethiopian and government forces are hunting hundreds of their fighters.

Nairobi has sent troops to seal its frontier, blocking entry to Somali refugees fleeing the conflict. Many fear the Islamists, who fled a last stronghold on New Year's Day, will mount a holy war against largely Christian Ethiopia.

"You must ambush, mine, raid and (carry out) martyrdom campaigns so that you can wipe them out," Ayman al-Zawahri, deputy to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said in his message.

"As happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, when the world's strongest power was defeated by the campaigns of the mujahideen, troops going to heaven, so its slaves shall be defeated on the Muslim lands of Somalia," he said.

Al-Zawahri's message, posted on a Web site used by militant Islamist groups, is likely to reinforce Washington's belief that the Somalia Islamic Courts Council is linked to and even run by an al Qaeda cell, a charge the Islamists have denied.

SECURITY VACUUM

In Nairobi, the International Contact Group on Somalia, which includes the United States, European and African nations, pushed for a fast deployment of foreign peacekeepers approved by the United Nations before the war.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said the security vacuum had to be filled, but played down the significance of the al Qaeda tape.

"I think a lot of bold statements were made by extremists in the Courts, that they were going to kill Somalis, that they were going to stand and fight ... and they just ran," she said.

A general seen as a contender to lead the Pentagon's Africa operations said he did not expect U.S. troops to go to Somalia.