Uganda to send more peacekeepers to Somalia

KAMPALA, Aug 16 (Reuters) Uganda will send 250 more soldiers to bolster a peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu that has been plagued by the failure of other African nations to commit troops, a military chief was quoted as saying today.

Uganda sent 1,600 men to the Somali capital in March as the vanguard of a planned 8,000-strong African Union (AU) force.

But no other countries have since deployed troops to support their work bolstering the Somali government's efforts to resist an Islamist-led insurgency.

Uganda's chief of defence forces, General Aronda Nyakairima, said the extra soldiers arriving this month would train forces loyal to the interim government.

''We are in high preparations to send a team of about 250 to undertake the training,'' he told a parliamentary security committee, according to reports by Ugandan state media.

Ugandans were surprised when African nations rushed this month to pledge forces for an expanded peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur -- while their troops in Mogadishu waited in vain for the promised backup.

Somalia's interim government is also desperate for more firepower to help stem a war that has killed hundreds, displaced tens of thousands and continues to threaten regional stability across the impoverished Horn of Africa.

Various African countries had vowed to join the AU mission. But lack of funds and unrelenting violence in Mogadishu, where insurgents are attacking daily both the government and its Ethiopian military allies, quickly changed their minds.

So the Ugandans have been left guarding Mogadishu's sea port, airport and presidential palace alone. Five of them have been killed so far by mortar bombardments and roadside bombs.

And financing remains a problem for the modest force.

Uganda's Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga told members of parliament the peacekeepers had only received allowances of 400 dollar a month for their first two months' service in Mogadishu.

''We expect that by early next month, they will be paid the balance of three months,'' he told the security committee.

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