Ugandan troops to go to Somalia pending approval

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 4 (Reuters) Uganda is ready to send peacekeepers to Somalia as soon as parliament approves the plan, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said today.

''The troops are ready but I have to consult the speaker of parliament. As soon as parliament approves, they will be sent to Somalia,'' he said at a joint news conference in Addis Ababa with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

He gave no date for the parliamentary session that would discuss the plan.

Ugandan government officials have repeatedly expressed concerns about sending soldiers to Somalia, saying the force needed a clear mission and exit strategy.

After routing rival Islamist leaders from their Mogadishu stronghold with military backing from Ethiopia, Somalia's interim government now faces the huge task of trying to secure the gun-infested capital.

Uganda had been the first to offer peacekeepers -- a battalion of 700-800 troops -- to bolster the government under a plan by regional body IGAD, endorsed last month by the African Union and UN Security Council.

REUTERS PB BD2304