Friday, August 17, 2007
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Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Friday called on regional countries to support troop deployment in Somalia so as to facilitate the quick conclusion of the deployment needed in the war-torn nation.Speaking at the opening of a regional ministerial meeting in Nairobi, President Kibaki whose country hosted the Somalia peace process which culminated in the formation of the transitional government, said such troops would enable the fledgling government stamp its authority on the Somali soil.
He pointed out that although several African countries had agreed to contribute troops for deployment in Somalia, only about a quarter of the targeted troops had been deployed by March this year.
"I urge Member States to support troop deployment in Somalia so as to facilitate the quick conclusion of the deployment needed," Kibaki told defense and security ministers from thirteen Eastern Africa countries.
"We should all bear in mind that to invest in peace and security is to ensure the development of our region," said Kibaki who also chairs the seven-nation regional bloc, the Inter Government Authority on Development (IGAD).
The Kenyan leader's appeal came a day after Uganda announced plans to send 250 extra soldiers to a peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu but Somalia 's government said they were not enough and urged other African nations to commit troops.
Uganda sent 1,600 men to the Somali capital in March as the vanguard of a planned 8,000-strong African Union force.
But no other countries have deployed to support the mission to bolster Somalia's interim government which is battling an Islamist- led insurgency in Mogadishu.
Somalia's interim government is desperate for more troops to help quell a conflict that has killed hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands since December when allied Somali- Ethiopian troops ousted Islamist leaders.
Regional diplomats and analysts say the current African Union ( AU) mission in war-infested capital, Mogadishu, which has 1,600 Ugandan soldiers, needs to be bolstered.
Several African countries, including Burundi and Nigeria, had last year vowed to join the AU mission but a lack of funds and renewed violence has hampered the mission.
Analysts say Somalia's transitional government represents the latest chance to bring an end to the anarchy that started in 1991, when clan militias overthrew military strongman Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
Source: Xinhua, Aug 17, 2007