African leaders are pledging thousands of new troops for Somalia to fight al-Qaeda-linked militants responsible for the twin World Cup bombings that killed 76 people and the US says it will help bankroll the military campaign.
However, internal documents obtained by the Associated Press show that that African Union (AU) forces and Somali troops don’t trust one another and that Somalia’s government “lacks consistency, coherence and coordination,” raising questions about whether more AU troops can solve the Somali impasse.
African leaders and US officials called for stepped-up efforts in Somalia as an AU summit here concluded on Tuesday.
The summit opened only days after the July 11 bombings in Kampala, an attack that prompted Uganda’s president to call for Africa to band together against Somalia’s militants.
Al-Shabab, Somalia’s most-feared militant group, claimed responsibility for bombing two sites where people were watching the World Cup final game on television and said the blasts were in retaliation for civilian deaths caused by AU troops in Mogadishu. They also have vowed to attack Burundi, the other African country that has been providing troops to the AU.
At the summit, Africa’s leaders voted to immediately dispatch 2,000 more Ugandan and Burundian troops to the AU mission in Somalia, boosting levels from 6,000 to the maximum mandate of 8,000.
The AU has commitments of 4,000 troops — 2,000 from IGAD, a bloc of East African nations, and one battalion each from both Guinea and Djibouti, AU Commission chairperson Jean Ping said at the summit’s closing news conference.
The AU is considering a request to raise the ceiling number for the total number of troops, he said, without giving a figure for the rise.
The US’ top official for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson, said that with a stronger force the AU could defeat al-Shabab, which intelligence officials say has been bolstered by foreign fighters from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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