(RTTNews) – The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday condemned the recent upsurge in fighting between the Somali interim government forces and the Islamist militants, and voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

In a 15 to 0 vote, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia by eight months to 31st December 2009.

The resolution stressed that Somalia’s long-term security depends upon the “effective development” of a National Security Force and Somali Police Force, and underlined “the need for a comprehensive response by the international community to tackle piracy and its underlying causes.”

It called on the international community to help in the establishment of these pro-government forces in Somalia by providing the required funds, training and equipment and pointed out that the instability in Somalia was contributing immensely to the increasing pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden.

Currently, a 4,300-strong AU force is struggling with their peacekeeping efforts in Somalia after the ousted Islamist fighters turned to guerrilla warfare against the government and AU troops. So far only Uganda and Burundi have contributed troops to the AU peacekeeping force, which was initially planned to have a strength of over 8,000.

Their struggle worsened after Ethiopia, which had sent thousands of its soldiers to Somalia in December 2006 to assist the weak interim government in its fight against the powerful Islamic militia there, withdrew its forces from the Horn of Africa country earlier in the year.

The latest UN resolution comes just two days after the Somali President called for international assistance in tackling the escalating insurgency problem in the country. Last week, the western-backed Somali interim government had launched a massive counter offensive against the Islamist rebels to recapture the areas captured by the rebels in their recent offensive.

The latest offensive by the Islamist militants is aimed at overthrowing Somalia’s interim government led by President Ahmed, who had agreed in March to enforce Islamic law in the country to appease the militants after they seized control of many major towns in southern and central Somalia, including Baidoa, the seat of the Somali interim government.

Somali officials say that more than a hundred people have been killed and over 45,000 others displaced from Mogadishu after a combined force of two militant Islamic groups, al-Shabab and Hisbul-Islam, launched the anti-government offensive two weeks ago.

The al-Shabaab group, a military wing of the Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopia-backed Somali forces two years ago, and several other allied militants groups have opposed past UN-sponsored reconciliation efforts in Somalia, and insist that they will negotiate with the country’s transitional government only after the AU peacekeeping mission leaves Somalia.

Somalia has not had a functioning government after the fall of the last government in 1991. It is estimated the fighting between the Islamist insurgents and the army coalition has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced hundreds of thousands more, mostly from the capital city of Mogadishu.