Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Jabbie said a five-man reconaissance mission was already in Mogadishu where the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is supporting government troops who have recently fought bloody battles with the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels who want to topple the administration.
The spokesman said Sierra Leone -- which is recovering from a civil war that ended in 2002 -- hoped to assist in bringing peace to other countries.
"The United Nations had the largest peacekeeping force of 17,500 troops that helped brought peace to Sierra Leone during the 10-year civil war," he said.
"I think we have to help bring peace to other areas of conflict as a payback."
On August 9 the AU made an urgent call for 3,000 more troops to secure the war-battered capital after Shebab rebels, who had controlled around half of the city, pulled out of the city claiming a change in military tactics.
The 9,000-strong mission is currently made up of troops from Uganda and Burundi.
War-wracked Somalia is the country hardest hit by the Horn of Africa's drought and violence has affected aid flows to those worst affected in one of the world's most dangerous cities.