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Ugandan MPs okay Somali force
19/01/2007 14:26 - (SA)
Kampala - Parliamentarians from Uganda's ruling party have approved plans to contribute troops to a proposed African peacekeeping force for Somalia, but have set conditions for deployment, says an official.
He said the 212-member caucus of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party endorsed the move, making mandatory parliamentary approval a certainty although they called for details to be ironed out before final adoption.
NRM spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said: "The caucus met last evening (Thursday) and resolved to support a government position to deploy troops to Somalia.
"However, they are demanding that the plan must include a number of things, including terms of the deployment", referring mainly to the terms of engagement of the United Nations and African Union-backed force.
Final approval
Opondo said: "We are deploying under the AU force, but is it going to be a peacekeeping force or a stabilisation force, which means that when attacked they have to defend themselves?"
He said other issues to be clarified included the length of the mission, who would pay for it, the salaries of Ugandan servicemen and compensation in case of injuries and to families in case of death.
According to Opondo, a motion for final approval of the plan was expected to be tabled by early February pending clarification of the outstanding matters, although the defence ministry would determine the exact date.
The NRM dominated the 332-seat Ugandan legislature and the step by its members meant certain adoption of the motion, although some opposition MPs had expressed concern about the deployment plan.
Troops deployment delayed
Uganda had offered to contribute a battalion of about 1 000 troops to the proposed 8 000-strong peacekeeping force whose deployment had been repeatedly delayed amid insecurity and logistical concerns for nearly two years.
It had been hamstrung by bickering within the east African bloc that was supposed to run the force as well as funding opposition from Islamists who controlled much of southern Somalia until last month.
Somalia had been without a functioning central authority since the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the country into anarchy.
The Somali government, created two years ago in Kenya, had been riddled with infighting and unable to assert control amid the threat posed by the Islamists, who controlled Mogadishu from June until late December when Ethiopian and Somali forces expelled them.
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