African Union to send more troops to Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya – The African Union will soon send more peacekeepers to protect the government of war-ravaged Somalia, a spokesman said, but he did not say how many would be deployed.The Somali government had asked the AU to nearly double its current deployment of troops to the maximum 8,000 allowed by an agreement struck in 2007, Nicolas Bwakira, AU envoy for Somalia, told The Associated Press Friday.AU members have previously been unwilling to send troops because of the high level of violence by Islamist insurgents against Somali and Ethiopian forces backing the government.Bwakira did not say which countries would send troops nor how many.Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based militias overthrew a socialist dictator in 1991.The AU has been in the country since March 2007, and last weekend the number of soldiers reached 4,000 for the first time. Bwakira said the organization was planning to put in more troops."We are doing it now. We will send more troops to Somalia soon," he said.The AU is seeking to put more troops into the country amid concerns that the insurgents will make further gains against a weak government that controls only small pockets of territory..more..http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090328/ap_on_re_af/af_somalia_african_union