Uganda To Send Peacekeepers To Somalia; Raises Questions Of Priorities

Kampala, Uganda, December 8, 2006 – With the UN Security Council yesterday approving a plan to deploy peacekeepers to Somalia, Uganda is preparing to send a battalion of peacekeeping troops to Somalia as soon as approval is granted by its Parliament. The international community is extremely concerned that that tension between the President Yusuf's Transitional Federal Government and the Union of Islamic Courts could spark regional war. While it would seem appropriate to applaud any country that contributes troops to peacekeeping for such a situation, one cannot help being a bit cynical.

First, how can Uganda justify sending "peacekeepers" outside the country, when its own citizens in the north are still facing insecurity and a one of the world's worst humanitarian crises? The Government's eagerness to deploy troops to Somalia while its own citizens continue to grossly suffer only plays into allegations that the Government is not concerned about its responsibility to protect its own people. It also begs the question why the Government is so eager. According to some diplomats, Uganda has no direct interest in Somalia but its close relationship with the United States makes it a natural ally of the U.S.-backed transitional government. "The U.S. wants an ally in Somalia," said a Western diplomat in Kampala. "It's no secret the U.S. has been training Ugandan special forces and giving them equipment." If so, is the U.S. unwillingness to definitively support the Juba peace talks somehow connected to these geo-politics?

Source: Uganda Conflict Action Network