Som@li Posted February 2, 2008 By VOA News 31 January 2008 Ugandan's president says his country could increase the number of troops it has in Somalia as part of the African Union peacekeeping force. In a statement Thursday, President Yoweri Museveni says Uganda is "capable" of providing all 8,000 troops authorized for the force by the AU. The statement says he made the comment to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the AU summit in Ethiopia. Mr. Museveni told the U.N. leader he has to discuss the matter with his High Command first but will inform Mr. Ban of the decision. Uganda and Burundi have deployed a total of about 2,000 troops to Somalia, where the Somali government and allied Ethiopian troops have been battling an Islamist-led insurgency for more than a year. Fighting centered in Mogadishu has killed thousands of people and prompted more than 600,000 others to flee the city. Mr. Ban has expressed concern that few African countries have fulfilled their promise of troops for the AU peacekeeping froce. Some information for this report provided by Reuters. African Union soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia, 16 June 2007 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
