Mogadishu shunned by Africans

• Only Uganda and Burundi heed AU call to send 5,500 troops to Somalia

Somalia’s tragic story could not have been more vividly told than at a seminar in Kampala hosted by the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Accord) attended by commanders of the Amisom peace-keeping force and the force’s managers based.

It has now been two years since the first African Union troops arrived in Mogadishu with a mandate by the United Nations that allows deployment of 8,000 green berets.

The bad news is that this figure is still stuck at 5,500 and only two countries – Uganda and Burundi have answered the call to send in troops.

Expressing his frustration, Felix Kulayigye, spokesman of the Uganda Defence Forces said: “We have a conflict in Somalia and countries want to know what they can gain before sending troops.”

Bad publicity is the main problem Amisom faces in Somalia and is the main reason more countries have not been forthcoming with troops.

The seminar heard of a major blow that was dealt by the man who should be supporting the force, none other than Mr Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, who has said: “Somalia was too dangerous to commit any troops.”

Major disincentive

The UN had given a deadline of June to pass a resolution authorising deployment of its own troops to Mogadishu but this was not to be. No single country offered to send troops to Somalia. At the same time, there were 43 countries that had sent 80,000 troops to Afghanistan.

Even as the seminar took place in Kampala, there was a major bombing in Mogadishu that claimed the lives of three Cabinet Ministers, two journalists plus many students.

The threat by the radical al-Shabaab to attack Kampala and Bujumbura, the capitals of the two countries that have sent troops was cited as a major disincentive to states that have made pledges among them Malawi, Mali, Ghana and Nigeria.

Mr Ken Abotsi, a peace-keeping trainer in Nigeria gave the following reasons as to why Abuja has not been forthcoming on its pledges to boost the Amisom muscle in Mogadishu: “If Nigeria did well in Liberia, some politicians think it can just be transplanted in Somalia.”

Further, he said as long as the news from Mogadishu remains negative, soldiers will feel that they are being victimised if they are assigned to serve in that country.

The opening remarks were made by Mr Wafula Wamunyinyi, the AU’s deputy Special Representative for Somalia and the force Commander in Mogadishu, Gen N. Mugisha.

Mr Wamunyinyi, who is currently the acting head of Amisom, told of hostility towards his officers by the media in Mogadishu. “When we are attacked, the media does not show any sympathy, we are portrayed as the enemy of the people in Somalia.”

Though the meeting called to show the Press both from inside and outside Somalia what Amisom does, it boiled down mainly into an exchange between AU officers from Addis Ababa and Nairobi, the UN support office for Amisom and Ugandan and Burundian officers currently serving or formerly based in Mogadishu.

It was just another tragic phase in attempts by the international community to restore order to this troubled country.

The figures spoke for themselves: over 60 Amisom peacekeepers have died and the threat keeps growing.

Mr Karanja Mbugua, a political analyst at Accord, the organisers of the conference said: “The Somali conflict did it not just happen. It all started with defeat in the Ogaden war in 1978 by Ethiopia. Groups opposed to the government sprang up. They were rewarded in January 1991 when President Siad Barre fled the country.”

Henry Owuor is Diplomatic and Foreign Affairs Writer, Daily Nation