Give Somali government an extra year, says Uganda

KAMPALA — Somalia's transitional government should stay on for one extra year to avoid jeopardising the military gains made by African Union troops against Islamist militants, Uganda's president said on Thursday.
The current mandate for the UN-backed government is supposed to expire on August 20.
Despite UN calls for a swift agreement on when polls should be held, Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed says the country is too unstable for any vote and has instead called for the transitional government's tenure to be extended."It seems to us that the win-win situation for all parties seems to be an extension of the Transitional Federal Institutions for a period not exceeding one year," Yoweri Museveni told a UN-backed group at the start of a two-day meeting in Kampala.Museveni told the members of the International Contact Group for Somalia that any elections would likely dissolve into acrimony."This will allow the extremists time to reorganise and cause problems and undermine the battlefield gains so far obtained," Museveni said.Uganda is one of only two countries currently contributing troops to the 9,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, AMISOM.Since launching a joint offensive with government forces against Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab extremists in February, Amisom has reclaimed swathes of the capital Mogadishu.Somali president Sharif echoed Museveni's calls for an extension to the mandate in a speech to the meeting."If we have an option to deal with the security situation then why should we stop now and lose momentum," he said."The best option is to give parliament and government a 12-month extension," he said.   AFP.