From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Jul 15 2010 - 12:30:12 EDT
Uganda wants peacekeepers to take fight to Somali rebels
Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:26am GMT
* Uganda wants peacekeepers to go after Somali militants
* Al Shabaab leader says planning more attacks
By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA, July 15 (Reuters) - Uganda wants new rules of engagement that will
allow its peacekeeping troops in Somalia to go on the offensive against
Islamist rebels who claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in Kampala last
weekend.
Twin bombings which killed more than 70 people watching the World Cup final
on Sunday came after al Shabaab insurgents threatened to take action against
Uganda for contributing troops to the African Union peacekeeping force in
Somalia.
As al Shabaab threatened further violence against Uganda, President Yoweri
Museveni said he would push for African Union troops in Somalia to be
permitted to take on the al Qaeda-linked insurgents and prevent them from
carrying out more attacks in the region.
Uganda and Burundi together contribute about 6,000 troops to the African
Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. It regularly trades fire with
insurgents in the capital Mogadishu, but is not mandated to go on the
offensive against them.
Museveni also said Uganda would tighten its internal security to keep out
foreigners intent on further attacks.
"We are now going to go on the offensive and get these people. We were in
Mogadishu on the African Union mission to guard the port, airport and state
house," the Ugandan president told a news conference late on Wednesday.
"But now they have mobilised us to look for them. In the past we were not
involved in Somali affairs, now we are taking a big interest in these
groups."
Asked if that approach would require a change of mandate for the force,
Museveni said, "It will have to be peace enforcement to bring a solution to
Somalia."
Two bombs went off in a crowded restaurant and a rugby club in the Ugandan
capital on Sunday as fans watched the final match of this year's world cup.
Al Shabaab's leader, Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, said the group would carry
out more attacks in Uganda.
"Attacks in Kampala were preliminary. We shall do more as AMISOM (the
peacekeeping force) continue massacring our people. I would like to tell
people of Mogadishu that Shabaab mujahideen will take revenge on your enemy
AMISOM and do the same thing they do to you," he said in an audio tape
issued on Wednesday.
Museveni said regional powers would not be deterred from their aim of
sending 2,000 more troops to Somalia in the short run before eventually
raising the force to 20,000.
"Therefore this force ... will be expanded and the African Union will be
able to clean up this place," he said. (Additional reporting by Ibrahim
Mohamed in Mogadishu; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Giles Elgood)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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