Ugandan troops off to Somalia

2007-02-26 22:41

Addis Ababa - Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Monday said a deployment of Ugandan troops to Somalia, the first members of an 8 000-strong African Union peacekeeping force, should begin this week.

"The AU is coming, the Ugandans are coming. My estimation is that they should be in Somalia for the first week of next month (which begins on Thursday)," he said at the fifth Sanaa Forum for co-operation, a gathering of leaders from Yemen, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia.

Uganda has offered to deploy 1 500 troops under the AU peace mission in Somalia called IGASOM, but has not given a date for the deployment.

A senior Ugandan military officer said on Monday his troops were ready for deployment and would land in Mogadishu in the coming days.

"We shall not let you know the exact date we are deploying for obvious reasons, but we shall have started deployment between now and March 5," the officer said, requesting anonymity.

Participants at the Sanaa Forum, created in October 2002 to reinforce peace in the Horn of Africa and develop business between member states, urged for a rapid deployment of the whole AU force.

Guerrilla-style attacks

The AU has so far only raised half of the 8 000 peacekeepers.

In recent weeks, the Somali capital Mogadishu has suffered the worst unrest since the interim government, backed by Ethiopian forces, drove out an Islamist movement late last year.

The government blames remnants of the movement, who have vowed guerrilla-style attacks, for the violence.

In a closing statement the forum "called upon all Somalis to rise up to challenges and use the new opportunity to reconcile their differences".

They warned that Somalia would turn into a terrorist refuge without help from the international community.

"Unless we support this legitimate (Somali) government, Somalia will be a safe haven for international terrorists like Afghanistan," said Yemen's President Ali Abdallah Saleh.

Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir called for help for Somalia's interim government, formed in 2004, to restore the stability that has eluded it so far.

"There is a rare opportunity today which should be invested in to ensure peace and stability in Somalia," said Beshir.

Somalia has lacked an effective central authority since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre which plunged the country into chaos.

- SAPA