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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Nov 29 2010 - 11:57:23 EST
World does not take Somali problem seriously-Uganda
Mon Nov 29, 2010 2:30pm GMT
* Somalia needs more African Union troops
* New government hoping to bolster its own forces
By Abdi Guled
MOGADISHU, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni appealed on
Sunday for more international support to bolster the African Union force in
Somalia during a brief visit to the capital Mogadishu.
Museveni met President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed at the airport along with
Somalia's new Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and some members of a
fresh, streamlined cabinet that was approved by parliament on Saturday.
"We want more troops, from Uganda or from anywhere in Africa. Uganda is a
country of 33 million people so we could mobilise 3 million people. But who
will pay for it?" said Museveni, who faces a presidential election in
February.
"International support is not enough. They don't take the Somali problem
seriously," said the former rebel, who visited Mogadishu wearing combat
fatigues.
Uganda and Burundi provide all the 7,200 African Union soldiers in Mogadishu
propping up a Western-backed government that has failed to stamp its
authority on much more than a slice of the capital.
Two hardline Islamist insurgent groups control the rest of Mogadishu and
much of southern and central Somalia. The African Union troops have so far
prevented the rebels from toppling the weak government by defending key
sites.
"I came to check on our troops and also to consult his excellency (President
Ahmed). I am very pleased they formed a new government, have a new Prime
Minister and are united. Our troops' morale is very high."
FOREIGN JIHADISTS
The AU and the seven-nation east African Intergovernmental Authority on
Development (IGAD) have said it could take about 20,000 troops to help quell
the insurgents in Somalia, a country without stable central government for
nearly 20 years.
Uganda has said it could supply the whole force but wants Western nations
and others to help foot the bill.
While there have been many pledges of international support for the Somali
government, incessant infighting and rampant corruption have not helped its
cause, while government soldiers have missed out on salaries for months.
Western nations say the Horn of African country has become a safe haven for
jihadists training to launch attacks in neighbouring countries and further
afield.
Somali insurgents linked to al Qaeda killed at least 76 people watching the
soccer World Cup final in Uganda's capital with bomb blasts, in retaliation
for the Ugandan troop presence.
The chaos in Somalia has also allowed piracy to flourish off shore. The
number of successful hijackings by Somali pirates was at a five-year high in
the first nine-months of 2010.
Somalia's new prime minister, who has been in office for about a month,
plans to recruit 8,000 government troops to push the rebels and foreign
fighters in their ranks out of Mogadishu.
"My first, second and third priority is improving security. In the first
phase we are going to recruit 8,000 government troops," Mohamed told Reuters
in an interview last week.
"Our initial target will be to drive the rebels from the capital Mogadishu
and then the rest of the country. We shall not talk to foreign jihadists ...
who came here to harass our people and our country," the prime minister
said.
(Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed; Editing by David Clarke)
(For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues,
visit: <http://af.reuters.com/> af.reuters.com/)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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