Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Lack of funds and logistical problems are holding back deployment of African Union troops to war-torn Somalia, a senior Kenyan official said on Tuesday.
Addressing a three-day Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Committee of Experts meeting in Nairobi, Kenya's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thuita Mwangi also said the seven-member bloc would press on with the deployment of troops despite the stiff opposition from faction leaders in Somalia.
Mwangi said there was no support for AU troops despite member states having contributed half of the required 8,000 soldiers who are expected to help the Somali transitional government stabilize the war ravaged nation.
"While pledges for contribution of peacekeeping troops have reached half, there has been delay in their deployment because of lack of technical assistance, training, financial and logistical support to the contributing countries,"Mwangi said.
He called for a diplomatic campaign to convince the international community to support the countries contributing troops. The European Union has already pledged assistance, while the United Nations is discussing logistics with the IGAD.
Mwangi, however, said the success of IGAD also depends on member states meeting their financial obligations.
"Financial resources are an important subject and it is my hope that this meeting will treat it with the seriousness it deserves. The meeting should come up with proposals that offer practical solutions to the issue of outstanding contributions," he said.
African Union (AU) troops are supposed to be replacing the Ethiopian soldiers but so far only 1,200 Ugandan soldiers have arrived.
Mwangi urged IGAD to redouble its efforts to ensure durable peace and sustainable
development within the region.
He cited the Darfur crisis in Sudan, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, and armed cross-border pastoralist conflicts as some of the conflicts that need to be mitigated.
IGAD Executive Secretary Attalla Hamad Bashir urged member states to look for home grown solutions and pool their resources to address their common problems. He, however, said the authority should not duplicate AU's role in the region.
"It has been the practice to look for solutions from outside, but this time, let us change the paradigm and propose solutions for our problems by ourselves, for ourselves, and by our own means," Bashir said.
The IGAD plea came as reports said more than 1,000 people have been killed in recent clashes in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after the transitional government and Ethiopian soldiers battled insurgents -- both Islamists and Hawiye clan fighters recently.
According to Hussein Aden Korgab, spokesman for the city's main clan, Hawiye, more than 4,000 had been injured in the heaviest fighting in 15 years.
Hawiye clan elders and commanders from Ethiopian forces are expected to hold further talks on Tuesday about their implementing the ceasefire they agreed last week.
But fears are high that fighting could be imminent following reports that both sides have been digging trenches in parts of the city they control.
Source: Xinhua , April 11, 2007