Somali parliament approves foreign peacekeepers

[tocqueville]

49 minutes ago

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Somalia's parliament on Wednesday approved deployment of foreign peacekeepers to the anarchic nation, a move opposed by newly powerful Islamist militias controlling Mogadishu, the parliament speaker said.

Out of 199 legislators voting, 125 were for a plan approved last year by the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which oversaw Somalia's peace process, parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan announced in the legislature.

Seventy-three were against with one spoiled vote, he said.

The plan to bring in foreign peacekeepers -- particularly from traditional rival Ethiopia and other bordering states-- nearly paralyzed the government for over a year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060614/wl_nm/somalia_troops_dc_2