| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Horn |
| Burundi peacekeepers arrive in Somalia |
| 2007-12-24 |
| MOGADISHU - Around 100 Burundian soldiers arrived in Somalia on Sunday as part of an African Union peacekeeping force trying to stabilise the war-torn country, an AU official said. The tiny central African country has pledged to deploy a total of 1,700 soldiers to Somalia to join some 1,600 Ugandan soldiers based in the volatile capital Mogadishu. ‘About 100 Burundian soldiers, part of the African peacekeeping mission in Somalia, have arrived in Mogadishu today,’ said Captain Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman of the AU contingent. ‘I believe every boot on the ground will change the situation and we hope other contries contributing solders will take the same path as Burundi and will deploy their forces soon,’ he told AFP. The pan-African bloc plans to deploy up to 8,000 peacekeepers to the Horn of African nation, torn apart by internecine war for the past 16 years. West African military powerhouse Nigeria is also to send soldiers in the next two or three months. |
| Posted by:Steve White |