The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has warned against sending a UN peacekeeping force to Somalia, writes BBC online Wednesday.
He said a UN force should remain the UN’s goal, but that deploying now could worsen the country’s conflict.
Mr Ban said the goal would only be achieved after progress on political reconciliation and restoring peace after two decades of conflict.
He spoke ahead of a donor conference aiming to raise 200 million euros (260 million US dollar) for peacekeeping and national security.
The EU has already said it will pledge at least 60 million euros (78 million US dollar) towards Somalia’s security at the meeting, which opens in Brussels later on Thursday.
The international donor conference is seeking to raise funds for the African Union peacekeeping effort and to create national security forces.
Those forces could include a 6.000-strong national security force and police force of 10.000 officers.
Correspondents say such forces might contain pirates off Somalia’s coast.
Only about 4.300 peacekeepers from an intended 8.000-strong AU force are currently deployed in Mogadishu.
The EU hopes the announcement of its financial pledge will be a benchmark for other donors at a time when the situation could hardly be more critical, says the BBC’s world affairs correspondent, Mike Wooldridge.
The EU, which is hosting the conference with the United Nations, considers Somalia now has its first credible government in many years, though in reality it currently controls little beyond a few areas of the capital, Mogadishu.
The US and AU have been pushing for a UN presence but finding troops to participate has been difficult because of the dangers in Somalia, adds BBC.
