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| Africa Horn |
| Uganda divided on sending troops to Somalia |
| 2007-02-03 |
| ( Sh.M.Network) In Uganda, the ruling party's efforts to push through a motion in parliament to debate the issue of Ugandan peacekeepers was voted down Wednesday, primarily because most opposition MPs had walked out of the house earlier to protest another issue. The lawmakers had argued that it would be improper for the house to discuss the issue with so many opposition members absent. The ruling National Resistance Movement last month approved a plan to send a contingent of Ugandan peacekeeping troops into Somalia. At the time, the party's director of information, Ofwono Opondo, told VOA that "the deployment is as good as done," largely because the National Resistance Movement's caucus constitutes more than two-thirds of the members of parliament. But some Ugandan lawmakers are doubtful about the proposal. Member of Parliament for Gulu Betty Aol Ocan explains. "We still have problems also here, and we do not know the terms of these people [peacekeepers]. We do not know whether they are going as peacekeepers, or they are going as fighters, because right now there is still fighting in Somalia. So, there is a lot of mixed feelings there - we are not very sure," said Ocan. |
| Posted by:Steve White |