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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Jul 26 2010 - 07:55:17 EDT
http://world.globaltimes.cn/africa/2010-07/555600.html
IGAD urges more troops, change of mandate in Somali peacekeeping mission
Source: Xinhua
[09:55 July 25 2010] Comments The Intergovernmental Authority for
Development (IGAD) on Saturday reiterated its stance on the Somali
peacekeeping mission, urging the African Union (AU) to expand its troops in
the war-torn Somalia along with a change of mandate.
If more troops are rushed to Somalia and their strengths are built from the
current 6,000 to 20,000 above, it will bring stability to Mogadishu and even
the whole region, the IGAD Secretary General Mahbub Moalim told Xinhua in an
exclusive interview before the upcoming 15th AU summit at Kampala, Uganda's
capital.
Moalim also called for a shift of mandate for the Somali peacekeeping
mission, saying it should be changed from " peacekeeping" to "peace
enforcement."
"IGAD has called for the change of mandate. This is going to give the
African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) troops strength to deal with the
current insurgencies there," the secretary general said.
Moalim's appeal came one day after AU Commission chief Jean Ping said Guinea
will soon dispatch a battalion of troops to bolster the AU peacekeeping
mission in Somalia.
Ping also said he had made a personal plea to South African President Jacob
Zuma to send troops to Somalia but had not get any reply.
Zuma on Saturday shunned all the questions about whether South African
troops be deployed in Somalia when he attended forums and dinners at Kampala
before the AU summit.
IGAD, The regional organization with seven member states including Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, decided this month to
deploy 2,000 peacekeeping forces to Somalia to join the Ugandan and
Burundian forces there.
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