Guinea and Djibouti are planning to send troops to bolster an African Union (AU) peacekeeping force charged with protecting the transitional government in Somalia, the AU has said.The pledge was announced on Friday before an AU summit in Uganda, which is expected to be dominated by the issue of security in Somalia.
Kampala, Uganda's capital, was hit by twin suicide attacks that killed at least 74 people on July 11.The bombings, at a rugby club and a restaurant, were claimed by Somalia's al-Shabab group, which is fighting to topple the Horn of Africa nation's UN-backed government.
It said that the attacks were in response to the deaths of Somali civilians at the hands of AU peacekeepers. The group, which the US says is allied to al-Qaeda, has warned of further violence in Uganda and Burundi unless they pull their troops out of Somalia. 'Full commitment'If Guinea and Djibouti fulfill their pledges, it will provide a major boost to the 6,000 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi."Guinea is preparing a battalion to be sent to Somalia immediately," Jean Ping, the AU's commission chairman, told reporters in Kampala.
"Djibouti prepared a battalion six months ago. Guinea's commanders are in Mogadishu preparing for the arrival of their troops.
"We have today a full commitment with Guinea for a battalion. Guinea is ready to immediately send troops."Abdurahman Adnan Ibrahim, deputy prime minister of Somalia's transitional government of Somalia, said they welcomed the troops and were expecting more from the AU."The AU is now doing what we have been telling them for a long time that this [al-Shabab] is not only an enemy for Somalia but is the enemy of the whole region ... Every country now realises the reality on the ground," he told Al Jazeera.Army officers from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia were visiting Somalia on Friday as they also considered contributing to the AU peacekeeping force.East African regional bloc IGAD last month pledged to send another 2,000 troops, but it has not yet announced which countries will contribute peacekeepers.
AU diplomats told the Reuters news agency that Amisom's mandate would be reviewed at the Kampala summit and it was likely the 8,000-strong cap on troop numbers for the force would be lifted.
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