Uganda: Country to Send More Troops to Somalia

New Vision (Kampala) NEWS15 August 2007 Posted to the web 16 August 2007 By Joyce NamutebiKampala
UGANDA is to send an additional 250 soldiers to Mogadishu to train Somali soldiers, the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, said yesterday.
"We are in high preparations to send a team of about 250 to undertake the training of Somalis," Aronda told the parliamentary committee on defence and internal affairs.
Responding to questions raised by MPs, he said helping Somalia create the capacity of its armed forces was part of the African Union mandate.
In addition, the peacekeeping force is charged with protecting the Transitional Federal Government and helping distribute relief supplies to the population.
The additional troops leave within a month, defence minister Crispus Kiyonga added later. He said the training might be for one year.
The UPDF mandate in Somalia was extended on July 19 for another six months, the committee, chaired by Nakaseke district MP, Rosemary Namayanja (NRM), heard.
The army boss said the Ugandan contingent had limited itself to protecting the Transitional Federal Government, the president, the prime minister and critical institutions such as the airport and the seaport.
Asked if the AU had secured money for the six additional months, the Joint Chief of Staff, Robert Rusoke, said: "The donors have committed themselves for another six months as they prepare for the UN to take over the mission."
On the allowances of the present Ugandan contingent of 1,500 soldiers, Kiyonga said the money had been slow in coming.
"The soldiers have been paid for two months. We expect that by early next month, they will be paid the balance of three months," he added.
Five Ugandans have been killed in the violence in the lawless Somali capital.
Six months after the arrival of the peacekeepers, consisting of only Ugandans, Mogadishu still remains one of the most dangerous places on earth.
Yesterday, a remote-controlled landmine blew up a government vehicle, killing at least five police officers and wounding three others, according to Reuters.
The blast near a hospital in north Mogadishu - a stronghold of Islamists waging war against the Ethiopian-backed interim government - destroyed an armoured vehicle as it transported officers on duty.
The government usually blames such attacks on Islamist insurgents, who it says are increasingly using Iraq-style remote-controlled bombs to kill government officials and destroy vehicles and buildings.
Hundreds have been killed by mortar and rocket attacks and fire fights in Mogadishu since Somalia's government ousted Islamist fighters in December, sparking an insurgency that has forced hundreds of thousands to flee.
The latest attack on the police officers came a day after heavy fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents in Mogadishu killed at least 31 Somalis and wounded 60, according to a local human rights group.
In a separate attack yesterday, an unknown assailant lobbed a grenade at soldiers in a town 30km west of Mogadishu, killing two people and wounding 16.
"Two grenades were thrown at local council soldiers patrolling the livestock market. One soldier and a civilian died. They wounded 16 civilians," shopkeeper Said Nur told Reuters.
A national reconciliation conference started almost a month ago, assembling hundreds of clan leaders, but the Islamic Courts, the main armed opposition group, have refused to attend, demanding the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops first.