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Kampala,
September 26, 2009 - Defense ministers from Uganda, Burundi and Somalia
met Friday in Kampala over the African Union peacekeeping mission in
Somalia after last week's suicide attack on the force, an official said.
The ministers alongside military chiefs of staff from the three
countries began discussions on Thursday at an undisclosed location and
continued Friday.
"Somalia security is top on the agenda of this meeting," Ugandan army
spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulayigye told AFP late Thursday.
Last Thursday, radical Somali Islamist rebels carried out deadly twin
suicide attacks on the AU force headquarters in Mogadishu, killing 21
people including 17 peacekeepers as well as the force's deputy
commander.
Since that attack, the insurgents have called for fresh attacks against
the African peacekeeping force, which comes under fire almost on a daily
basis on the streets of the Somali capital.
Burundi and Uganda are the only countries that contribute troops to
Amisom. The force currently counts 5,000 men, well short of the 8,000
promised when the force was deployed in March 2007.
Bujumbura and Kampala, as well as the AU, are asking for the force's
mandate to be beefed up.
Source: AFP, Sept 25, 2009
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