Somali govt safety a concern

2005-03-09 20:20

Entebbe - Military experts from five African countries gathered in Uganda to discuss what is needed to send peacekeepers to protect Somalia's government as it returns from exile in neighbouring Kenya, officials on Wednesday.

The experts are trying to determine the number of troops and doctors that could be sent, the amount of food rations and facilities that may be needed to support peacekeepers, said Ugandan army spokesperson Major Shaban Bantariza.

The five-day meeting that began on Monday will lay the groundwork for next week's meeting of defenc ministers from Uganda, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan, Bantariza said. The nations have agreed to send an interim force ahead of a fuller African Union mission.

"We shall contribute about 800 troops to Somalia. We have already selected suitable officers" who are now undergoing special training in western Uganda, said Uganda's minister of state for defence Ruth Nankabirwa.

Somalia's transitional Cabinet asked the African Union and Arab League last month to send between 5 000 and 7 500 troops with a one-year mandate to protect the government as it organises a police force and army.

But 61 Somali members of parliament, including warlords-turned-cabinet ministers, later said that including troops from neighbouring Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti would undermine fragile efforts to end a 14-year civil war in Somalia.

The US state department on Thursday supported the stance of Somali MPs.

Warlords

Ethiopia supported Somali factions with money and weapons in the war, and its troops could seek to advance Ethiopian interests if deployed in the country, some Somali MPs said.

Somalis also remember the war they lost in 1977 over control of Ethiopia's southeastern Ogaden region, largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis. The Somali army never recovered from the defeat, a fact that eventually helped warlords to overthrow dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

The warlords then turned on each other, reducing the nation of 7 million to a patchwork of clan-based fiefdoms.

Residents of Mogadishu and other southern towns have held several demonstrations against troops from neighbouring countries. Some rejected troops all foreign troops.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti have said they would not send troops if they are not welcome.

African countries are ready to send peacekeepers to Somalia, but need financial assistance from Western countries, Alpha Oumar Konare, head of the African Union commission, said on Tuesday.

- AP