Ugandan Chief of Defence Forces, General Aronda Nyakairima, told the parliamentary committee on defence that Burundi would deploy in a few weeks' time while Nigeria was preparing a battalion for the war-torn Somalia, according to the newspaper.

It is a question of when to deploy, he added.

Nyakairima said that Ethiopian forces would stay in Somalia until other countries deploy.

In March, Uganda deployed 1,500 soldiers in Somalia under the auspices of the African Union to protect the Transitional Federal Government and provide humanitarian assistance.

According to Nyakairima, preparations were going on for the national reconciliatory workshop to be held in June.

The MPs urged other countries, which had pledged to send troops to Somalia and those which had promised to fund them, to honour their pledges.

Source: Ethiopian Herald