UN says Somalia peacekeeping mandate adequate

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia Augustine Mahiga said there is no need to change the current mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) from peacekeeping to peace enforcement.

Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs quoted Mahiga as telling a closed door meeting on Monday also attended by three of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, United States, France and Britain that the current mandate is adequate in addressing the situation in Somalia.

"It was his view that under the existing mandate, the forces on the ground could act in a more responsible but robust fashion," Carson told reporters after the meeting attended by the presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Tanzania, prime minister of Ethiopia and other foreign ministers.

Uganda and the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) have been calling for the change of the mandate saying that the situation in Somalia warrants peace enforcement and not peacekeeping.

The meeting which was called to assess the situation in Somalia agreed that there is need for more troop deployment in Somalia.

"We came away even more united to work together to help strengthen the TFG, AMISOM, and the forces for stability in Somalia," he said.

Okello Oryem, Uganda's minister of state for international affairs told Xinhua in an interview that Uganda is negotiating with other African countries to send troops to Somalia.

He could not give details of which countries have pledged saying the talks are still at the infancy stage.

Jean Ping, chairperson of the African Union Commission told reporters here on Friday on the sides of the ongoing AU summit here that Guinea and Djibouti are ready to deploy troops.

He said that he had also requested South Africa to send troops.

Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have deployed about 6,000 peacekeepers in Somalia.

Defense experts say that more than 20,000 troops are needed in order to stabilize the volatile country which has suffered prolonged war.

Source: Xinhua