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 SomaliNet  News    English  Somalia   

Uganda: Gov’t sends 1000 troops to Somalia
Wed. January 03, 2007 09:38 am. -

Bonny Apunyu

(SomaliNet) In a bid to help the Somali government calm down the nation, Uganda is sending 1,000 troops to the horn of African nation after a two-week war to oust Islamic militants.

Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa said Tuesday that Uganda had offered a battalion.

In the same light the Somali government says Nigeria may also give troops to an African peacekeeping mission already endorsed by the United Nations before the war.

Meanwhile, a victorious Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose intervention turned the war against the Islamists, said his forces would only remain in Somalia "for a few weeks" while the interim government pacifies the chaotic nation.

"It is up to the international community to deploy a peacekeeping force in Somali without delay to avoid a vacuum and the resurgence of extremists and terrorists," he added.

Uganda's Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga said Tuesday that the Ugandan troops are on standby.

"We have had a force ready for a whole year and up to now it is on standby but there are procedures that have to be undertaken," Dr Kiyonga said.

In the past, The United States (U.S.) urged Uganda to play a central role in stabilising Somalia, which until last week was being controlled by the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC).

Ethiopian planes, tanks and troops helped the Somali government drive out the Islamists from Mogadishu last week.

News Category: Somalia
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