Editorial: Stop blood-letting

The struggle between the Somalia Islamic Courts Council and the Ethiopian-backed interim government always carried the potential to escalate into a regional conflict which now seems to be occurring.

A nasty little war is developing in the Horn of Africa, a strategic point both commercially and militarily and a region of interest to countries across the world. But the fighting is not about strategic choke points or who controls which vital waterway.

It is about the suffering of innocent people. And it is not just Somalia. It is difficult to look at the map of the Middle East without lamenting the fighting taking place across the region for whatever reason, whatever excuse. While the conflict rages, hundreds of thousands of people will be uplifted from their communities and suffer the indignities of forced travel under extremely stressful conditions.

The latest fighting in Somalia is worsened because of hunger and serious flooding that has made many roads impassable.

This is exactly the type of war that the United Nations was founded to solve or at least mediate. It is difficult not to see the hand of history here. The discredited League of Nations earned its reputation in large part because it failed to prevent Mussolini's forces from invading Abyssinia.

Now Ethiopia has invaded Somalia and again the international community is strangely quiet. What is it about the region around the Horn of Africa that so cripples the ability of the international community to act?

If the UN does not get involved and quickly sort out this war it runs the risk of allowing the conflict's impact to undermine its credibility. Unless the crisis in Somalia is tackled efficiently how will the situation in Iraq or Afghanistan for that matter, ever be resolved? This is not just about Somalia, it is about the issue of war and peace for the UN.