From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Sep 23 2009 - 06:35:17 EDT
Somalia: Uganda president wants peacekeepers in Kismayo, Baidoa
Sep 23, 2009 - 11:13:48 PM
NEW YORK, USA Sep 23 (Garowe Online) - Uganda's president has urged the
international community to support the expansion of the African Union
peacekeeping force (AMISOM) currently serving in the Somali capital
Mogadishu, Radio Garowe reports.
Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, has called on the U.S. government
to reinforce military plans to boost AMISOM peacekeepers in Somalia in order
to safeguard the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu from
collapse.
President Museveni, who is in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly,
was addressing reporters after meeting with U.S. Ambassador the U.N., Dr.
Susan Rice.
"The interest of Uganda is to ensure total peace in Somalia," President
Museveni said, according to the Ugandan newspaper, Daily Monitor.
T he Ugandan leader called for AMISOM peacekeepers to reach the authorized
force of 8,000 soldiers, some of which would be deployed in the key towns of
Kismayo and Baidoa.
Currently, Kismayo and Baidoa remain under the control of Al Shabaab, the
strongest insurgent faction in Somalia.
The 5,000-strong AMISOM peacekeeping force consists of Ugandan and Burundian
soldiers. Many African countries that have pledged to boost the peacekeepers
in Mogadishu have not lived up to earlier promises.
On Sep. 17, Al Shabaab suicide car bombers struck the AMISOM force
headquarters at Mogadishu's international airport, killing at least 21
people. It was the deadliest attack on the African peacekeepers since AMISOM
deployed in Mogadishu in March 2007.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----