Djibouti sends troops to turbulent Somalia

Mohamoud Ali Yusuf, Djibouti’s minister of foreign affairs, said that his government was hecticly training and preparing those troops over the last few years, adding they are fully equipped right now and ready to perform regional peacekeeping duties as deputized by African Union (AU).

“At the end of this month or the start of June, our troops will be deployed to Mogadishu to be as a part of AU peacekeeping forces to help the interim government bring peace, law and order back to the eastern African country of Somalia” Yusuf said in an interview with VOA Somali Service.

Before deploying the troops, Djibouti discussed the issue with a number of countries and organizations including the Unites States, African Union and the neighboring Ethiopia, the minister noted.

Djibouti will be the third African country to send troops to Somalia.

However, the announce of Djibouti comes as al Shabaab vowed to launch reprisal attacks after the US Special forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in an operation in Pakistani city of Abbottabad on early this month.

Uganda and Burundi, who have more about 9,000 soldiers in Mogadishu, have been the first nations deployed their forces to Somalia under the AU mission in Somalia.

Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed, the prime minister of Somalia recently called for an additional 4,000 troops to be deployed as soon as possible.  Uganda and Burundi pledged to send an additional 4,000 troops to Somalia as part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

In March, Burundi deployed one battalion (1,000 soldiers), but the remaining 3,000 soldiers would be deployed around the middle of the year.

Agencies