Uganda says ready to send peacekeepers to Somalia

KAMPALA, Feb 23 (Reuters) Uganda said today it was ready to send 1,500 peacekeepers to Somalia as the vanguard of a planned African Union force, but was waiting to finalise its mandate and get air transport.

Near-daily attacks by insurgents in Mogadishu have spurred calls for a speedy AU deployment to replace Ethiopian troops who helped Somalia's interim government oust Islamist fighters in a December war -- but who are hated by many Somalis.

''We will be leaving very soon,'' State Minister for Defence Ruth Nankabirwa told Reuters. ''But it depends on procedures. We are waiting for Algeria, who promised to provide air transport.'' Soldiers from Nigeria, Ghana, Burundi and Malawi are also expected to join the proposed 8,000-strong peacekeeping force, which was authorised by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

Nankabirwa said Uganda also needed to sign a ''status of forces'' agreement with the African Union, which would give details of when and how the troops are allowed to use force and what their rights and responsibilities are.

She did not say when this might happen.

A Western diplomat told Reuters some Ugandan troops, including a junior mission commander, were already in Somalia.

''There is a small advance party (of Ugandan soldiers) already there, but no one else,'' he said.

Somali government officials late yesterday said the Ugandan's Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga and other senior military commanders had visited the interim government's temporary capital Baidoa, to discuss the mission.

REUTERS BDP BD1901