Thursday, July 15, 2010
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States pledged Thursday to boost support for a peacekeeping mission in Somalia following the deadly attack in Uganda blamed on a Somali-based rebel group inspired by Al-Qaeda.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Washington would step up aid for the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), a UN-backed peacekeeping force that seeks to maintain order in the troubled country.
"We've been the major contributor to the Amisom mission. That won't change," Crowley said.
The spokesman welcomed Uganda's decision to send an additional 2,000 troops to the mission, and noted that Uganda already has the largest contingent with 3,500 soldiers.
"If we can be supportive, we will be," Crowley said.
"We have reviewed, since Sunday, the support that we're providing to Amisom. We are going to beef that up... if Uganda needs support in terms of its additional troop complement, we certainly will continue to support Amisom."
Crowley praised Uganda and Burundi, which has 2,500 troops in Amison, for their role in helping "to bring regional security to the instable areas" in Somalia.
The spokesman also said 63 FBI agents assisting in the probe of Sunday's attacks had arrived in the region.
"They're fully engaged in the investigation in support of the Ugandan authority," the spokesman said.
Somalia's Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks, in which 73 people were killed in twin bombings on revelers watching the final of the World Cup in South Africa.
Source: AFP