Africa
African Union names new representative in Mogadishu
The African Union has a new representative in Somalia. He is Mr Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra from the West African state of Mali.
Mr Diarra replaces Mr Nicolas Bwakira who has held the post for two years.
Addressing a press conference in Nairobi, Mr Bwakira said African Union troops in Somalia have not been paid for eight months.
Mr Bwakira attributed this to the slow pace by the International community in delivering its commitments to the commission.
“The international community has not delivered on its commitment. It is frustrating and disappointing as we need the resources,” he said.
The troops are drawn from Burundi and Uganda and have been on a peace keeping mission in Somalia for the past two years.
He noted that the international community had pledged $30 million at a conference in Brussels in April this year, “of which only 30 per cent has been disbursed”.
“This is a regrettable situation and we call upon the international community to rectify the situation as we are falling short of our requirements,” he emphasised.
These international communities include the European Union, Arab Link and some developed countries.
In his handing over speech, he stated that AMISOM has put in place structures to increase staff where training is offered for the police force.
“We offered complimentary training to 5, 100 troops. African countries have played a substantive role,” Mr Bwakira said.
The AU, he said is playing the role of the Security Council and should therefore be supported.
He added that Somalia received 800, 000 US Dollars which he maintained was too little out of the pledged 56 million US Dollars.
Mr Bwakira further stated that the situation in Somalia is worsening as currently there are 3.6 million Internally Displaced People in the country.
Humanitarian agencies, he added, can not move freely to help alleviate the situation.
The insurgents, Mr Bwakira said, continue to attack the population, government and other international organisations present.
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