Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa, has revealed on Friday that a discussion on the future of Uganda’s involvement in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is high on the agenda of the forthcoming 2017 London Somalia Conference.
Mr Kutesa, while meeting the European Union Ambassador to Uganda, H.E Kristian Schmidt said in Kampala; “We discussed a range of issues in the region including the forthcoming 2017 London Somalia Conference. I informed him (Schmidt) that Uganda would be represented and was keen to have a discussion on the future of AMISOM high on the Agenda.
The two discussed and senior officials at the Ministry headquarters, among others, the security situation and political transition in Somalia.
The government of Uganda deployed troops to Somalia in 2007, and currently maintains one of the largest peacekeeping force of 6,000 in Somalia. The Mission is funded by the European Union (EU) and United Nations through trust funds, respectively.
However, the EU recently announced plans to roll back support to Amisom citing competing priorities and further pleaded with the international community to fill the gap. It said it would cut the soldiers’ pay by 20 per cent.
The EU has been the main financier of Amisom since 2007 when the mission was established to pursue violent extremists in Somalia. It disburses Sh224 million every month.
- When the EU cut the budget by 20 per cent, every soldier lost about $160 of the basic allowance.
- This shortage has affected operations and morale, to some extent.
- Uganda has the highest contingent of 6,223 soldiers, Burundi (5,432), Ethiopia (4,395) and Djibouti (2,000).
Attended by Somali government officials and members of the international community, the London Somalia Conference which was first hosted on February 23rd 2012, is a diplomatic conference hosted by the Government of the United Kingdom, mainly focused on resolving issues that have arisen in Somalia in the wake of the civil war.
During the inagural talks, members of the Somali Twitter community were reportedly outraged by what they felt was a disproportionate emphasis on piracy and terrorism and a simultaneous under-representation of Somali voices. Many users also expressed misgivings over the meeting’s purpose, believing that the conference was organized to secure foreign interests.
The Al-Shabaab group of Islamists issued a press release condemning the meeting as the talks kicked-off. Describing the gathering as “not in any way different from the various other conferences aimed at bolstering the invading African forces that are prolonging the instability in Somalia”, the group characterized the meeting’s signatories as agenda-driven.
