Museveni addresses London Conference on Somalia

Museveni at a previous visit abroad

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

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President Yoweri Museveni has asked the United Nations to replace Uganda's gun-ships that were destroyed in an accident in Kenya enroute to Somalia.

He made the remarks as he addressed the International Conference on Somalia at Lancaster House.

Museveni outlined the steps Uganda has taken to defeat Al-Shabaab and said it was now time for the national army of Somalia to be trained in Somalia.

" Now that basic training at Bihanga in Uganda was ended, let us send the trainers inside Somalia so that we do the training there."

"If these steps are taken, security will be restored in the whole of Somalia. That is the responsibility of the Mogadishu Government. Piracy will also end because the pirates come from land. They are not aquatic animals." Museveni concluded.

Fifty countries and organisations gathered in London Tuesday for an international conference aimed at preventing Somalia from slipping back into abject lawlessness.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud are co-hosting the gathering, which hopes to bolster political stability in the conflict-battered Horn of Africa country.

"The Somalia conference in London aims to capitalise on the significant progress made over the past year and to agree coordinated international support for the government of Somalia's plans to build political stability by improving security, police, justice and public financial management systems," Britain's Foreign Office said.

Organisations such as the United Nations, the African Union, the International Monetary Fund and Somalia's neighbours are among those invited.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces international trial for crimes against humanity, was also invited and is in the British capital for the summit.

Somalia has been battered by conflict since 1991 but a new United Nations-backed government took power in September, ending more than a decade of transitional rule.

The conference follows on from ones held in London in February 2012 and Istanbul four months later.

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