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First AU peacekeepers arrive in Somalia
2007-03-01
Ugandan military officers arrived in Somalia Thursday, the first contingent of an African Union peacekeeping force to be deployed in the war-shattered Horn of Africa nation. It is the first such venture since Operation Restore Hope, the ill-fated UN-backed, US-led peace mission launched in December 1992. During the first six months of that mission many civilians, 24 Pakistani peacekeepers and 18 from the US were killed as the peacekeepers battled local militia. Uganda has kept the exact date of the troop deployment secret because insurgents, who are involved in almost daily violence in Mogadishu, have threatened to attack the peacekeepers. Ugandan officers landed Thursday at the interim government's base in Baidoa, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the coastal capital. "About 30 Ugandans, mainly experts and logistical officers, have arrived in Baidoa," a senior police officer in Baidoa told AFP on condition of anonymity. "They were welcomed at the airport by government officials. The airport was sealed off,"he added. "I can confirm that Ugandan military officials are in Baidoa to pave the way for the deployment of their forces," Hussein Adan, a senior Somali regional official told AFP by telephone. "Some of the officers are high ranking military staff. I think they will stay until the deployment, which is likely very soon." So far, the AU has managed to raise only around half of the required 8,000 troops. Uganda has offered 1,500 troops, Burundi 1,700 and Nigeria 850, while Malawi and Ghana are also expected to contribute. At a sendoff ceremony in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni said his troops would not seek to disarm militias causing chaos in Mogadishu. "We are not going to disarm the Somali militias because if we empower the Somali people, it will be up to them to decide whether it is necessary to disarm," Museveni told around 1,500 troops gathered at Jinja, east of Kampala. A tank battalion is expected to leave Thursday by railway for the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, where it will sail up the Indian Ocean to Mogadishu. Infantry units will fly in next week, army spokesman Paddy Ankunda said. President Meles Zenawi of neighbouring Ethiopia plans to pull his soldiers out of Somalia as soon as possible, after supporting the Somali goverment partly because his own country was threatened by the Islamists. Gunmen in Mogadishu on Thursday ambushed a convoy carrying the head of capital's sea port, sparking an exchange of fire that claimed at least two lives, underlining the task ahead of the peacekeepers. And in the latest of a string of hit-and-run incidents, attackers shot at the car of local police chief Ibrahim Abdi Adan, injuring one civilian. In recent weeks, Mogadishu has suffered its worst unrest since the interim government, backed by Ethiopian forces, drove out an Islamist movement late last year. Somali officials have blamed former warlords and members of the defeated Islamist movement for the attacks. Increasingly they target officials and their relatives, but civilians are often caught in the crossfire. Dozens have died since the start of the year and thousands have fled the capital. Under international pressure to improve the situation, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf told parliament Thursday that a two-month national reconciliation conference would begin on April 16. The Horn of Africa nation, home to some 10 million people, has suffered 16 years of bloodletting since it was carved up among rival clans after the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The failure of Operation Restore Hope was summed up in one incident, the downing of a US Black Hawk helicopter in the capital Mogadishu and the subsequent bloody rescue operation. The battle was made famous in Ridley Scott's 2001 movie Black Hawk Down.
Sizemore pleads not guilty on drug rap (2007-05-23)Tom Sizemore arrested in drug case (2007-05-08)First AU peacekeepers arrive in Somalia (2007-03-01)Government blames Mogadishu attack on Islamists (2007-02-01)Somali Islamists threaten AU peacekeepers (2007-01-30)
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