NAIROBI, Kenya—Two African nations are sending fresh troops to Somalia, in an effort to turn the tide against an insurgency that poses a growing threat to the region.The troop increases come a month after Somali militant group al Shabaab launched a bloody attack on the Ugandan capital, which the militants said was retaliation for Ugandan involvement in Mogadishu. The majority of African Union troops in Somalia—currently about 6,000—come from Uganda and Burundi.
On Monday, Wafula Wamunyinyi, deputy head of the African Union mission in Somalia, known as Amisom, said that Uganda had begun to send more troops to Mogadishu, and that the first group of new soldiers had arrived on Friday. Burundi also plans to send a battalion, he said, which is around 1,000 troops. Mr. Wamunyinyi declined to offer a total figure for the new troops, or their arrival dates, citing security reasons. But the A.U. hopes to boost its forces by about 2,000 to fulfill the original mandate of 8,000 troops that was set when Amisom first deployed in 2007.
The new Amisom troops are expected to bolster the mission's plan to take back Mogadishu from al Shabaab, which controls swaths of the city.
"We are going to expand and move the insurgents out of Mogadishu," said Mr. Wamunyinyi. "We will make major, major strides with the 2000" additional troops. Amisom officials have long expressed frustration that the mission has struggled to accomplish its goals without enough troops.
After the July bombing in Uganda, AU officials hoped more nations would be encouraged to contribute. The west African nation of Guinea, and Somalia's tiny neighbor, Djibouti have both promised troops, but no date has yet been set for their deployment.
The mission has become more difficult this year because foreign fighters—about 2,000, according to Amisom—have flooded the country to aid al Shabaab. According to AU officials, the militants have established training camps in the city for foreign fighters. Over the weekend, at least seven foreign militiamen were killed when a bomb they were building exploded prematurely in a Mogadishu house, the Somali government said in a statement. Among them were three Pakistanis, two Indians, an Afghan and an Algerian, the statement said.
Al Shabaab's proximity to Amisom posts has also allowed the militants to draw AU fighters into retaliatory shelling that has killed civilians. The killing of civilians, in turn, has fueled debate about whether more African troops are actually stirring public resentment toward their mission and the Somali government they have been sent to support. Al Shabaab said that it had planned the July attacks in Uganda, which killed 76 people, to avenge Somali civilian casualties.
Amisom says more troops could push al Shabaab out of the city and move the fighting away from residential areas. The additions would also allow troops to hold territory while battling for new ground—something they struggle to do now.
On Monday, Mr. Wamunyinyi said that Amisom troops were being given additional training on the rules of engagement, and ordered not to shell civilian areas in an attempt to minimize casualties.
In recent weeks, Ugandan officials arrested four men, all Ugandans, for their alleged involvement in the July attack. The men have confessed to participating in the plot and face trial.
Kenyan authorities have extradited four other suspects to Uganda for their alleged involvement in the attack.
Monday, August 23, 2010
By SARAH CHILDRESS
Source: Wall St Journal
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