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| Africa Horn |
| Djibouti says to commit 450 troops to Somalia |
| 2010-01-29 |
| ADDIS ABABA (Sh. M. Network) - Djibouti said on Thursday it planned to send 450 soldiers to Somalia possibly next month to boost the African Union (AU) peace mission that is protecting the fragile Western-backed government. Uganda and Burundi each have 2,500 peacekeepers in Mogadishu with the AU's AMISOM force in Mogadishu. Its soldiers come under near-daily attacks from roadside bombs and rebel artillery. The force is struggling to raise its numbers beyond the 5,000 troops already present in the anarchic nation that has had no functional central government since 1991. "We are preparing our troops. We are training them so that they can carry out their mission in a very efficient way," Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf told Reuters on the sidelines of an African Union foreign ministers' meeting. Youssouf said he hoped his country's contribution would inspire others to do the same. "Somalia is a neighbouring country. We have a very close relationship. We can see what is going on there and we have to contribute as Africans," he said. Youssouf said the region must remain watchful against rebel groups. "We have to be very vigilant because al Qaeda has a very large network in the Arabian peninsula and also in the Horn of Africa," he said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |