By Louis Charbonneau
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
ENTEBBE, Uganda (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Wednesday the U.N. Security Council was considering a proposal to raise more funding for an expanded African Union peacekeeping mission to Somalia.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni - Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Europe
Ugandan troops make up the bulk of the 7,200-strong Somalia mission known as AMISOM and Kampala has said it would be willing to add more to provide the entire 20,000 soldiers thought to be needed to squelch a raging insurgency in the Horn of Africa country.
"Members of the Security Council are studying (the proposal) to get more familiar with the issue," Museveni told reporters, after meeting U.N. envoys visiting his country. He added that he had not received any promises from the group.
Museveni has been urging greater urgency in regional and international efforts to stabilise Somalia since the country's al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab militia claimed responsibility for twin bomb blasts in July that killed nearly 80 people.
The AU and the seven-nation East African Intergovernmental Authority on Development have said it could take 20,000 troops to help quell the insurgents in Somalia, a country without a stable central government for nearly 20 years.
Some analysts say the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government is a lost cause and not worth the support of AMISOM soldiers, who endure frequent attacks by Somali militants.
Museveni said Uganda could raise any number of troops, but money and equipment should come from international community.
"We have the experience, tradition, the fighting force. Of course we don't have that type of money, especially for a country that does not have a border with us," he said. "That is why we would want the international community to bring money."
Museveni said the amount of funding that would be required for AMISOM was not discussed.
Source: Reuters