A/HRC/7/26 Page 6 mandate to protect the TFG and other transitional federal institutions, but it is not mandated to protect civilians. To date, approximately 1,700 Ugandan troops and 100 Burundian troops out of a planned multi-national force of 8,000 have been deployed to Mogadishu with the intention of eventually replacing the Ethiopian troops. On 18 July 2007, the Security Council approved the extension of the AMISOM mandate a further six months to January 2008. 8. Most of 2007 saw recurrent clashes between the TFG/Somali forces, Ethiopian troops and insurgents/clan militias. Various government buildings, military installations and public figures were targeted. Two particularly heavy rounds of fierce fighting took place in Mogadishu between March and April 2007 causing high numbers of fatalities and casualties as well as massive internal displacement. Once again, there were reports of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. In a statement issued on 1 May 2007, the independent expert and 12 other mandate-holders 1 expressed deep concern at the latest round of fierce fighting in Mogadishu, urging respect for international humanitarian law and calling for a cessation of hostilities. Throughout the year, intermittent but intense clashes, suicide car bombs, assassination attempts and targeted killings took place in Somalia, resulting in thousands of fatalities and casualties, destruction of property and massive internal displacement. 9. A Technical Assessment Mission (TAM) to Somalia, sent pursuant to Security Council resolution 1744 (2007), took place from 15 to 26 March 2007 charged with providing recommendations about further United Nations engagement in support of peace and security in Somalia, as well as recommendations on stabilization and reconstruction. Further to the TAM, on 24 April, the Security Council authorized the beginning of contingency planning for a possible United Nations mission for Somalia. 10. In the context of the armed conflicts in south and central Somalia, a parallel political crisis was also taking place in Somalia. While 2006 seemed to hold some promise of political consolidation and progress for Somalia, 2007 was unfortunately a year of political wrangling, fragmentation and deadlock. Under pressure of the armed insurgency, a deep conflict arose between members of the Transitional Federal Parliament and the TFG, wherein the former accused the latter of a lack of governmental financial transparency and accountability. There were also political difficulties within the TFG itself, eventually leading to the conciliatory resignation of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi in late October 2007. President Abdullahi Yusuf appointed Nur Hassan Hussein as his successor on 22 November 2007. 11. Political opposition to the TFG also continued in the form of the so-called “Asmara Group” based in Eritrea. This group comprised of former ICU members, warlords, business 1 The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, John Dugard; the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk; the Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai; the Special Rapporteur on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes, Okechukwu Ibeanu; the Special Rapporteur on the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt; the Representative of the Secretary General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Walter Kälin; the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari; the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Muñoz Villalobos, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler