UGANDA’S PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has vowed to crush Somalia’s al-Shabab group which claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bomb blasts in Kampala that killed 76 people.
At his home in Uganda, the president said yesterday that he wanted to send up to 20,000 troops to Somalia to “eliminate” the hardline Islamist group.
“I am optimistic that these numbers will be raised now – especially now – because these people have provoked the world more than before. And I can assure you they have invited a lot of problems for themselves,” he said.
Ugandan troops are part of a 6,100-strong African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia which is supporting the fragile transitional government in Mogadishu.
“We were just in Mogadishu to guard the airport and the presidential palace – that was all. We are going to go on the offensive and go for all who did this in all areas, starting here,” said Mr Museveni.
Al-Shabab said yesterday it was ready to “unleash a new tide of terror. This is only the beginning”.
When asked how many troops Uganda could immediately deploy to the Horn of Africa nation, army spokesman Felix Kulayigye said it would be “battalion strong, 600-1,000 troops”.
He said Uganda would have to call on other countries in the region to boost the force, which would take on more of a peace-enforcing role than a peace-keeping one, requiring a change in mandate of the current African Union mission.
The Ugandan opposition has called for a complete withdrawal of the country’s troops, while enthusiasm for any increase in numbers was absent from the streets of Kampala.
“Somalia might be on the same continent but it is not our country,” said Silver Sewanyana.
“Ugandans want their troops home and they’ve wanted it for a while.”
Between 1993 and 1995, the US led a major military intervention in Somalia, which ended in failure after the battle of Mogadishu in October 1993 that left 18 American soldiers dead.
US special forces had sought the capture of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who had attacked peacekeeping forces. Public opinion soon turned against the mission as pictures of dead American servicemen were shown being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu.
Aidid died in 1996 of gunshot wounds. However, this time the circumstances were different, said Mr Kulayigye. “In 1993, the Americans went after a popular warlord. This time, the Somali population are being held hostage. We are going to help them.”