Somali rebels amputate limbs, U.S. sends weapons

By Abdi Guled and Ibrahim Mohamed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Washington has sent weapons to Somalia`s government to thwart Islamist insurgents, who cut hands and feet off thieves on Thursday and paraded the severed limbs in the streets of Mogadishu.
Somalia`s al Shabaab insurgents are seen as a proxy for al Qaeda and Western nations fear they could destabilize the region and provide safe havens for hardline Islamists from elsewhere.
When a moderate Islamist was elected president in January, there was hope he could end nearly two decades of bloodshed in Somalia by reconciling with hardliners who want to impose a strict version of Islamic law across the country.
But Osama bin Laden declared President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed an enemy in an audiotape released in March. He called on the insurgents to topple the government and for Muslims around the world to join their jihad.
A U.S. official said the United States had sent arms and ammunition to Somalia`s government in a move signaling President Barack Obama`s desire to shore up the "fragile" government and thwart the hardliners.
"The State Department is providing ... weapons and ammunition to try to help them deal with al Shabaab and other extremists," the official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said, confirming a report in The Washington Post.
"The government is in a very fragile state," he said, adding the United States wants Eritrea to stop supporting the insurgents. The top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Johnnie Carson, hopes to visit Eritrea soon, U.S. officials said.
Eritrea denies arming and training the insurgents.
A U.S. official, and an international security source, said the United States was providing the weaponry in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions.
"It`s confirmed. They received approval from the U.N. Security Council," the international security source said.
While the United Nations has had a long-standing arms embargo on Somalia, a May Security Council resolution urged member states to train and equip government security forces as long as a U.N. embargo monitoring committee had no objections.
Another foreign security source said weapons had come into Somalia for the government via Uganda, which provides half the 4,300 African Union troops protecting key sites in Mogadishu.
"The prospect of the government collapsing is sending alarm bells ringing in Western capitals, but whether this latest move will succeed remains to be seen," said Rashid Abdi, analyst at International Crisis Group.
"Going further than providing arms to actually sending in more foreign forces would be a mistake," he said. "The government would then play right into the hands of the militants, who would accuse them of accepting foreign meddling."
LIMBS ON TREES  Continued...
Original article