UN to meet militants who took Somalia
June 20, 2006

The UN will make its first formal contact with the Islamic militants that captured most of Somalia with the arrival this week of a security team to meet with the little-known group's leaders, a senior official said yesterday. The trip is meant to prepare for a similar visit by UN humanitarian agencies that want to ramp up aid to the country, said Francois Lonseny Fall, the UN special representative for Somalia. It also reflects a growing realization within the UN that the Islamic militants -- known as the Islamic Courts Union -- are the closest thing Somalia has to a government after some 15 years as a failed state when different warlords rose and fell, officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject. (AP)