Somali president in Uganda for talks amid bitter row with PM

KAMPALA, Friday

Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was due to hold talks Friday in Uganda, the main contributor of troops to the African Union force that has kept his embattled administration alive in Mogadishu.

Sharif was due to meet Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni amid intense wrangling at the top of Somalia’s transitional federal government and a bitter dispute pitting him against his prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke.

“This is a routine meeting to evaluate the security situation in Somalia,” Museveni’s press secretary Tamale Mirundi told AFP, without elaborating.
UN mini-summit. “Maybe he is coming here to caucus with the president because there is a UN mini-summit on Somalia in New York next Thursday which our president will be attending,” said Henry Okello-Oryem, state minister for foreign affairs.

Uganda was the first country to contribute troops to the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and has remained the backbone of the force, the last barrier preventing Al Qaeda-inspired insurgents from seizing full power.

Uganda has recently taken an aggressive stance and said it could send thousands more troops to boost the force and flush out the Shebab insurgents who claimed responsibility for deadly July suicide bombings in Kampala.

Somali officials have said that Museveni was keen to see Sharif and get assurances on the make-up of the Somali government.
A long-standing rivalry between Sharif and Sharmarke blew up in the open in recent days, with the two principals disagreeing notably over a draft constitution due to replace the country’s interim charter within months. (AFP).