The United States has called an international meeting to discuss strategy on Somalia, the State Department said today, only days after Islamists seized the capital Mogadishu and ousted warlords widely believed to have been supported by Washington.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 and an interim government established in late 2004 is too weak to enter the capital. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States would convene the first meeting of a "Somalia Contact Group" next week in New York.
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer would lead the meeting. Officials from the United Nations, European and African countries and other international organizations would take part, Mr McCormack said, but he gave no more details.
"The goal of this group is to promote concerted action and coordination to support the Somalia transitional federal institutions, and so we are going to be working with other interested states and international organizations on this matter," said Mr McCormack.
The Islamist militia won control of Mogadishu on Monday and advanced on Friday toward the secular warlords in other areas. The interim government has welcomed the defeat of warlords viewed as undermining it, and its ministers have met members of the Islamist side in Mogadishu.
The defeat of the secular warlords was largely viewed as a setback for US policy in the region and the Bush administration is looking at new ways of tackling Somalia, which it fears could become a haven for terrorists.