UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council on Wednesday authorized an African force to protect Somalia's government against an increasingly powerful Islamic militia, hoping to restore peace and avert a broader conflict in the region.

Veiled Somali women holding AK 47's in Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday, Dec 4, 2006. Hundreds of people demonstrated at Mogadishu Stadium in a protest against the US proposed draft UN resolution on easing an arms embargo on Somalia. The angry demonstrators chanted anti-American slogans and carried banners and placards denouncing the US proposals that could also allow regional peacekeeping troops to go to Somalia. [AP]

The US resolution, co-sponsored by the council's African members, also partially lifts an arms embargo on Somalia so the regional force can be supplied with weapons and military equipment and train the government's security forces.

At the same time, it threatens targeted sanctions against others violating the arms embargo.

The resolution also urges the Islamic movement that has taken control of the capital and most of southern Somalia in recent months to stop any further military expansion and join the government in peace talks. It threatens Security Council action against those who block peace efforts or attempt to overthrow the government. No measures were mentioned, but they could include sanctions.

The arms embargo against Somalia was imposed in 1992, a year after warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another. A government was formed two years ago with the help of the UN, but it has struggled to assert its authority against the Islamic militants.

Critics of the resolution, including some non-governmental organizations, accuse the Security Council of taking sides in the dispute between the government and the Islamic movement, which the U.S. has accused of harboring al-Qaida suspects.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the United States, like many other countries, is concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Somalia and the possibility of a wider regional conflict. He said the regional force would be "a key element in preventing conflict."

"I think we're siding with the people of Somalia who definitely need relief from the conflict that's been going on for far too long," he said.

Somalia's deputy UN ambassador, Idd Bedel Mohamed, thanked the US and Bolton for taking the initiative to deploy a force.

"The primary purpose of this resolution is to support the legitimate government in Somalia so it can stabilize the situation in that country," he told reporters after the vote.

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