BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AFP)--Burundi and Uganda said Sunday they would withdraw their peacekeepers from Somalia if the African Union failed to boost troop numbers with the AMISOM mission there.
Burundi Defense Minister General Germain Niyoyankana, who was speaking in Bujumbara at a joint press conference with his Ugandan counterpart, Crispus Kiyonga, said he wanted the African Union to extend the peacekeeper's mandate.
But he stressed that more troops had to be sent to Somalia "very quickly", he added.
"If our conditions are not met, it's normal that our troops will be withdrawn," he warned.
Kiyonga arrived in Burundi Saturday for talks with the Burundi government on the future of their participation in the AMISOM mission.
Together, the two countries have deployed 3,600 peacekeepers in Somalia, but they are ill-equipped and under-funded and have been unable to restore stability in Somalia, which has been embroiled in civil war since 1991.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 to rescue an embattled transitional administration and oust the Islamic Courts Union), which had taken control of most of the country and started imposing a strict form of Sharia.
But in the past week, Ethiopia has started to wind down its military operations in Somalia.
This followed an agreement with the Somali government and the more moderate wing of the Islamist-led political opposition during UN-sponsored reconciliation talks in Djibouti.
Ethiopia's continued presence in Somalia has been one of the main grievances expressed by the Islamist insurgents and allied clan militias.
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Publié le 04 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones