ADDIS ABABA — Kenyan troops were integrated into the African Union's
peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with Kenya's defence minister
signing an agreement at AU headquarters Saturday.
"We conclude the
process of establishing a formal, legal framework for the integration
of the Kenyan defence forces into AMISOM," Defence Minister Yusuf Haji
said at the signing in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.Kenyan
tanks and troops rolled into Somalia in October following a series of
kidnappings and attacks on Kenyan soil believed to have been carried out
by Shebab insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda.In December, the AU said it backed the integration of Kenyan troops into its peacekeeping mission.AU
peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra welcomed the official
integration and said it marked progress towards defeating Shebab
militants in Somalia."We are really opening a new chapter -- a
chapter that will take us closer to... the completion of the mission in
Somalia," he said.Haji said the Kenyan contingent in AMISOM would
number 4,631, boosting the force now made up of some 11,000 Burundians
and Ugandans.The re-hatting of Kenyan troops comes three days
after they took the Shebab-controlled town of Afmadow, a long-term
target ever since they entered Somalia.Haji said they were inching closer to capturing the strategic port city of Kismayo, but he did not specify a timeline."We
are not very far from Kismayo, but we can't say when we are taking
over," he said, adding that although the rebels still posed a threat,
they had lost strength."They have been diminished and also their
command structure has been destroyed on the ground, but you can never
rule out a few remnants of al-Shebab here and there. But we are very
hopeful that at the end of the day AMISOM will end the war in Somalia,"
he said.Lamamra added that AMISOM still faces a number of
logistical challenges and urged the United Nations to maintain support
for the mission."Now that AMISOM is expanding, now that we are covering the entire territory, we do have more challenges," he said.In regard to logistics, "we need our friends in the UN to be able to supply all what is needed," he said.Somalia
has been embroiled in civil war since 1991, when former president
Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted. It has been variously governed by
ruthless warlords and militia groups and a fragile transitional
government which holds official power in the Horn of Africa country.
UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, after a two-day conference on Somalia
held in Istanbul, called Friday for urgent international aid to head off
the risk of warlords exploiting a power vacuum after a scheduled change
of government in August.
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