Rwanda to host conference on Somalia peacekeeping

President Paul Kagame says Rwandan peacekeepers are over-extended and cannot deploy in Somalia Photo

By XINHUAPosted Wednesday, July 6 2011 at 09:33

Share Rwanda will host a three-day African Union conference on peacekeeping in Somalia from today (July 6) to July 8.

The conference will be examining the implementation of International Humanitarian Law by African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).The New Times, a Rwandan daily newspaper, quoted Ben Rutsinga, the director for Europe, Americas and international organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as saying that Rwanda was chosen because of her successful peacekeeping operations in various countries.During a recent press conference, President Paul Kagame said that Rwanda cannot deploy peacekeepers in Somalia because they are already “heavily deployed in Darfur, Sudan.”Currently Rwanda has over 3, 000 troops deployed in Sudan since 2007 as well as in Haiti, Liberia and other countries.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the conference will seek to enhance the understanding of Amisom’s mandate by the participating actors and underline the AU’s and Amisom’s efforts at enhancing the respect of International Humanitarian Law in Somalia.Participants will include special representatives from the UN and the AU, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) facilitator, the Somali Transitional Federal government, the governments of Burundi and Uganda, plus local and international human rights organisations.