Defence minister calls for more troops in Somalia

Kenyan Defence Minister Yusuf Haji has urged the African Union to deploy more military personnel and hardware to Somalia so that Al-Shabaab militants are attacked on all fronts.

Mr Haji told Xinhua, in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing 18th African Union summit in Addis Ababa, that whereas the Kenyan troops have aerial power and the necessary equipment, the troops in Mogadishu need helicopters, body amours, ammunition because they have to move from place to place while hunting down the militants.

"We need helicopters, body amours particularly in Mogadishu where the Ugandans and Burundians are. They need to move from one place to another to kick these people out," he said.

Presently there are over 12,000 troops in Somalia operating under the mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

"The message we bring to the African Union is that we should keep this momentum in dealing a decisive blow in putting the Al-Shabaab out the way," he said.

"We need more troops because we have to go outside the areas that we know so that we have more fronts. When they (Al -Shabaab) are beaten here they run somewhere, you need troops to be there waiting for them or to act as a deterrence to stop them," he added.

Uganda is providing the bulk of the Amisom troops in Somalia. Burundi, Kenya and Djibouti also have troops there.

Ugandan, Burundi and Djibouti troops are positioned in the capital Mogadishu while the Kenyan troops are attacking from south Somalia.

All these military operations are carried out in conjunction with the Somali government troops.

Mr Haji said that Kenya's military operations in south Somalia were moving on smoothly.

"The situation in Somalia is going on very well. We are capturing territory each and every other day. Al-Shabaab right now are on the run, they are in disarray," he said.

"We don't see any challenge because these people are not a formation of troops, they are fighting guerrilla warfare," he said.

He said whereas foreign military intervention from outside Africa is not needed, the international community should give military logistical support to the troops in Somalia.

Mr Haji urged the Somali leadership to stick to the political roadmap that will see the country holding elections in August this year.

He said that the leadership should follow the Kampala Accord which stipulates that a new government must be elected into power in August this year marking the end of the transitional period.

"The Somali people should stick to the Kampala Accord and make sure that they move every step as is required of them so that there is a new government come August this year," he said.

According to observers the bickering between the Transitional Federal Government and Parliament may derail the political road map that is supposed to see a Constitution promulgated before the elections in August.