The African Union peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) together with the UN Political office for Somalia (UNPOS) as well as the Somali government on Saturday launched a Joint Security Committee to coordinate efforts in support of the Somali government's security sector institutions.

The Joint Security Committee (JSC), composed of the Somali Ministers of Defence, National Security, Interior, Chief of Staff, Police Commissioner and the Head of Intelligence from the Somali government side while the international community was represented by AMISOM, UNPOS and three members from donor community, said a joint communiqué issued in Mogadishu.

The JSC held, for the first time, its maiden meeting in the restive Somali capital, a move described as important by AMISOM spokesman, Major Barigye Ba-Hoku, "considering that Somalia, especially Mogadishu, is considered a no-go-area".

"Senior officials from the UN, EU, AMISOM and other countries like Italy and Sweden deliberated today in Mogadishu on how to strengthen the Somalia Security Sector," said spokesman for AMISOM forces in Mogadishu.

The communiqué stressed that the overall objective of the JSC would be to jointly coordinate efforts in support of the Somali security institutions and facilitate the fulfillment of pledges made during the Somali Contact Group conference in Brussels last April.

The JSC meeting in Mogadishu comes days after the hard-line Islamist group of Al-Shabaab announced the banning of three UN agencies including the UNPOS in war-torn Somalia.

Mogadishu, the venue for the JSC' first meeting, has been and still remains the scene of bloody confrontations between opposing sides since the ouster of former Somali ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2009)