Since the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) routed the Union of the Islamic Courts (UIC) almost three months ago, "the federal Government has a roadmap," UN Humanitarian Coordinator Eric Laroche told a press briefing at UN Headquarters. "They

JINJA, 1 March 2007 (IRIN) - The African Union (AU) peace mission due to be deployed in Somalia will not try to disarm armed groups in that country, but will instead train a Somali national army, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday.

"We are not going to disarm the Somali militias because if we empower the Somali people, it will be up to them to decide whether it is necessary to disarm," said Museveni as he bid farewell to the Ugandan army contingent that will serve in the

"I want to announce that the reconciliation conference will held in Mogadishu on April 16 and will continue for two months," Yusuf told parliament, sitting in the town of Baidoa, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu.

"There will be 3,000 participants

- summarises briefly developments during the previous month in some 70 situations of current or potential conflict,

- listed alphabetically by region, providing references and links to more detailed information sources (all references mentioned are hyperlinked in the electronic version of this bulletin);

- assesses whether the overall situation in each case has, during the previous month, significantly deteriorated, significantly improved, or on balance remained more or less unchanged;

- alerts readers to situations where,

This report is based on information received from the UN agencies in Kenya, international NGOs, Kenya Red Cross Society and other Humanitarian agencies in the country.

1.0 General Overview:

During the reporting period, the security situation in Mogadishu continued to be tense. Attacks were staged against Ethiopian troops and individuals. The targets included Ethiopian troops stationed at the former Somalia Ministry of Defence complex. Most of the victims in these incidents have been children and women some hurt when those under fire counterattack. The intermittent clashes have led to an exodus of people from Mogadishu to other locations in Central/Southern Somalia including Baidoa and Bardera. Various other incidents of insecurity

Kwesi Aning

Introduction

Africa is grappling with several difficult security challenges.These difficulties result not only from the magnitude of these challenges,but also from the lack of capacity of African states and organizations to respond quickly and effectively to them.While wide swathes of Africa are compelled to deal with problems in an ad hoc manner,there are indications that some states, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the African Union (AU) are undertaking promising steps to respond.

"The government of Burundi has accepted an AU request to send a brigade of 1,700 soldiers to Somalia," Burundi's deputy army chief Godefroid Niyombare told AFP.

He said the troops will form part of a second phase of deployment to be in Somalia by April.

"We have more than one month to