Uganda says it will send 10k more troops to Somalia if US pays; US already funding 1,000 more

Uganda asks US help to send 10k troops to Somalia

KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda said Wednesday it is ready to send 10,000 more troops to Somalia if the U.S. provides the funding, a move that would see the African Union force in Mogadishu more than double in size.

Uganda’s pledge comes in the wake of twin bombings in Kampala during July’s World Cup final that killed 76 people. Somalia’s most dangerous militant group, al-Shabab, said it carried out the attack because of the presence of several thousand Ugandan troops in Mogadishu as part of the nearly 7,000-strong African Union force.

The spokesman for Uganda’s army, Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, said the country has 10,000 more forces trained and ready to deploy to Somalia, but the country needs the U.S. to provide assistance.

“The USA committed itself to fund the peacekeeping troops,” Kulayigye said. “Once they provide what they promised we will send the troops.”

The U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Uganda, Joann Lockard, said the U.S. has already provided funds for an additional 1,000 Ugandan troops to deploy to Somalia. The U.S. also continues to work with African nations to increase the overall support for AMISOM, the African Union Mission in Somalia, she said.

The U.S. has already obligated more than $185 million in support of AMISOM troops from Uganda and Burundi, she said.

“The United States is encouraging other donors and African nations to step forward to provide additional troops and financial and logistical support to AMISOM,” Lockard said.

During an African Union summit in Kampala in late July, African leaders pledged more troops for Somalia, a stance the U.S. said it supported. However, most Somalia observers say Somalia needs a political solution more than a military one. The country has not had a functioning national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew the president.

Al-Shabab, an ultraconservative militant force that has ties with al-Qaida, is trying to overthrow the weak, U.N.-backed Somali government and install its harsh interpretation of Shariah law countrywide.

Associated Press writer Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.