Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Uganda's opposition legislators have demanded details of the terms and conditions for the deployment of the country's peacekeepers to Somalia before they endorse the peacekeeping mission.
Kassiano Wadri, the Opposition Chief Whip told Xinhua in an interview on Tuesday that the opposition legislators resolved after a caucus meeting on Tuesday that the government briefs them on the planned deployment, short of which they will be reluctant to endorse the mission.
The government planned to table the deployment motion before parliament next week for approval.
"The government has to convince us why we should deploy in Somalia. Issues of an exit strategy if things go bad, compensation in case a soldier is killed, facilitation of the operation and the mandate to the troops have to be cleared before we approve the deployment," Wadri said.
The MPs of the ruling party Nation Resistance Movement, who took some two thirds of the Parliament seats, however, have endorsed the deployment with some reservations similar to those raised by the opposition legislators.
Uganda has been asked to play a key role in the deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia under the auspices of the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional body that brings together Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
With the help of Ethiopian troops, the Somali Transitional Government gained control of most parts of the country. The transitional government has called for a speedy deployment of African peacekeepers to help fill a security vacuum after Ethiopian troops withdraw.
Source: Xinhua, Jan 23, 2007