The Ugandan vanguard of an African peacekeeping force intended
to help Somalia's interim government tighten its tenuous grip on
the anarchic nation flew into the country Thursday, witnesses
said.
Underlining the formidable task awaiting the African Union (AU)
mission, gunmen shot dead three people at the house of the director
of Mogadishu's port, the latest in a wave of guerrilla-style
attacks in the coastal capital.
A cargo plane dropped off 35 uniformed Ugandan officers early in
the morning at the government stronghold of Baidoa, customs officer
Ali Mohamed Adan said. Police officer Isak Hassan Warsame also said
he saw the Ugandan officers land.
But Ugandan army Captain Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the AU
mission, denied any military personnel had left yet. "There are no
troops in Somalia," he said in Uganda.
Baidoa is the south-central trading town the government used as
a temporary base before ousting militant Islamists from Mogadishu
in a December offensive backed by Ethiopia's military.
The town is expected to be a key rear staging area for the
proposed 8,000-strong AU force, designed to replace Ethiopian
troops who helped President Abdullahi Yusuf's government defeat the
Islamists in less than two weeks.
The Ugandan peacekeepers are due to patrol Mogadishu, one of the
world's most dangerous and gun-infested cities.
Uganda has kept the exact troop deployment date secret, aware
that insurgents who blast away almost daily at joint
government-Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu have threatened to attack
any peacekeepers or government allies.
(China Daily via agencies March 2, 2007)
