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Hiiraan Online
Monday, January 12, 2009
Mogadishu, Somalia (HOL) - The newly elected President of Ghana Mr. John Atta Mills has told the African Union (AU) that his country is seriously considering sending a peacekeeping force to Somalia.
The AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia needs additional peacekeepers since it currently has only 3,200 peacekeeping troops from Uganda and Burundi and the interim central government too week to defend itself after the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia.
Head of the AU Political Office Mr. Jean Ping who recently visited Ghana and participated in the swearing ceremony of Ghana’s new President said that Ghana has promised to deploy a peacekeeping force to Somaliavery soon.
“The security situation in Somalia worries us very often nowadays” said Mr. Ping who recently visited several African countries to convince them to send peacekeeping forces to Somalia.
Nigeria and Burkina Faso have also promised to send peacekeeping forces to Somalia but it is not clear yet when they plan to deploy their forces to Somalia.
Apart from the 3,200 Ugandan and Burundian troops currently in Somalia, the AU has been unsuccessful to secure any of the 8,000 peacekeepers it expected to deploy to Somalia as part of its security operations in the war ravaged country.