DPA
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
More than 1 500 Ugandan troops deployed under an African Union (AU) banner will remain in the country but the mission may evolve into a UN-led international force to the war-torn capital, said Ali Kirunda-Kivejinja, the Ugandan government spokesperson.
"No, no, we cannot pull out. When you go into something, you cannot just jump out, otherwise you escalate problems," he said.
The AU mission, known as AMISOM, was approved in January for six months but the troops, who were deployed in March, have played only a minor role in keeping the peace in turbulent Mogadishu and have come under attack by militias in the city.
The AU had originally called for 8 000 soldiers for the mission, but despite troop pledges by Nigeria and Burundi among others, only Uganda has followed through.
Mogadishu has been mired in chaos since the 1991 toppling of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre by warlords who then turned on each other, except for a six-month period of stability in 2006 brought by a hardline Islamist group who ruled much of the Horn of Africa country.
Since it rolled into the capital over the New Year, the Ethiopian-backed government has been battling insurgents, who it believes are made up of remnants of the Islamist group.
An EU-backed reconciliation conference seen as the last best hope to pull Somalia back from the brink of lawlessness is set to restart on Thursday after its opening on Sunday was punctuated by mortar attacks.
Source: dpa, July 18, 2007