Kampala , October 10, 2006 – UGANDA wants to send troops to Somalia out of sympathy for the suffering Somali and not because it has interests there, the President said yesterday.

Yoweri Museveni said when the troops deploy in Somalia, their main aim will be to help the militias build a national army.

Museveni said this while receiving a special message from the President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh, which referred to the Somali situation, State House said in a statement. The message was delivered by Djibouti foreign minister Mohammad Ali Youssef on Sunday at State House, Nakasero.

Museveni said, "The only solution to the Somali crisis is to remove guns from politics and give the people a voice through elections."

The African Union and IGAD decided that a peace keeping force be sent to Somalia. IGAD agreed that Uganda should be one of the countries sending troops to Somalia.

The Union of Islamic Courts, which controls Mogadishu, has threatened to fight foreign troops deployed in their country.

Museveni, however, told the Djibouti minister that Somali warlords signed an agreement which created the interim government and therefore "anybody going against the agreement does not mean well for the Somali people."

"He said the Islamic courts trying to take control of Somalia by guns are contradicting the spirit of the Nairobi Agreement," the statement added.

The President advised the parties involved in the conflict to return to the original positions and seek consensus with the Interim Government that will lead to elections.

He said Uganda was watching the situation and would work with regional countries to ensure that all stakeholders continue to see that elections are the final solution to the Somali problem.

Source: The New Vision