Uganda ready to back Somali

2009-06-24 09:29

Kampala/Mogadishu - Uganda is ready to send more troops to Somalia, where the government is facing a fierce onslaught by Islamist insurgents, a senior government official said Tuesday.

Islamist groups al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have stepped up their insurgency since early May, putting the weak government in Mogadishu under intense pressure and forcing over 120 000 Somalis to flee the capital.

Somalia's Parliament Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur at the weekend called for foreign assistance after a particularly bloody week in which three officials were killed along with dozens of civilians.

"If IGAD (a regional political grouping) requests us to send troops to Somalia, we will do so," James Mugume, permanent secretary at the foreign ministry, said.

The African Union (AU) has backed Somalia's call for help, although it has not officially approved more troops.

Ethiopia, whose 2006 invasion installed the transitional federal government and sparked the insurgency, said it would not send in troops without an international mandate.

Relentless attacks

Kenya has also ruled out sending in troops for the moment.

Ethiopia pulled out its forces in January, leaving an AU peacekeeping force of 4 300 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi to hold the fort.

The peacekeepers do not have a mandate to pursue the insurgents and can only engage when they are attacked.

The government is reeling under relentless attacks by the insurgents. Tuesday saw a relative lull in the fighting following one of the bloodiest weeks this year.

Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden was killed on Thursday in a suicide bomb attack that also claimed the lives of over 30 others, including the former ambassador to Ethiopia.

Mogadishu's police chief was killed in fighting on Wednesday and then on Friday a parliamentarian was shot by gunmen.

The appointment of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a former insurgent ally, briefly raised hopes of peace earlier this year, but the insurgents say he is too close to the West.

Their opposition continues despite the fact he has met one of their demands by implementing Islamic law across the areas controlled by the government.

Embroiled in chaos

The insurgent groups have also implemented their strict form of sharia in areas they control.

Al-Shabaab, which has links to al-Qaeda and is backed by several hundred foreign fighters, on Monday sentenced four young men in Mogadishu to have an arm and a leg amputated each for stealing mobile phones and guns.

The sentence was postponed, however, due to fear the men would bleed to death in the hot weather.

More than 300 people have died since the clashes erupted in early May. An estimated 18 000 civilians have been killed in the insurgency since early 2007, while over a million have fled.

The insurgency, combined with drought, has left over 4 million Somalis dependent on food aid and has allowed piracy to flourish off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation.

Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

- SAPA