From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Jul 16 2010 - 17:00:17 EDT
Uganda ready to send extra 2,000 troops to Somalia
Fri Jul 16, 2010 11:12am GMT
* Uganda waits call to send reinforcements
* Somali rebels threaten more attacks if peacekeepers remain
KAMPALA, July 16 (Reuters) - Uganda is ready to send an additional 2,000
peacekeeping troops to Somalia despite threats from hard-line Somali
Islamists of more attacks if peacekeepers are not withdrawn, an army
spokesman said on Friday. Coordinated explosions ripped through two
nightspots in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Sunday, killing 73 people
watching the World Cup final.
"If we're called on to contribute a stronger force in Somalia, we're ready
to send an extra 2,000," spokesman Felix Kulayigye told Reuters by
telephone.
The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group, which claimed the Kampala strikes,
said it was avenging the killing of civilians by the African Union
peacekeeping force. Ugandan forces form the backbone of the 6,100-strong
deployment in Somalia.
Regional allies have promised to send an extra 2,000 soldiers to Somalia by
mid-August.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni wants new rules of engagement that would
allow the troops to take on the rebels in order to prevent further attacks
across the region.
"We're in Somalia under the auspices of the AU to help our brothers there
and al Shabaab won't intimidate us or scare us out of the country,"
Kulayigye said.
Burundi also has troops in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, shielding the
presidential palace and guarding the airport and port from insurgents.
It has said it will not bow to pressure from al Shabaab and will keep its
2,500 peacekeepers in place. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Writing by
Richard Lough; Editing by George Obulutsa and Giles Elgood)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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