Tuesday, February 27, 2007
"A mission left Sunday for Mogadishu. It was due to meet Somali authorities and assess the situation," the official told AFP by telephone, requesting anonymity.
The mission of civil and military officials was due to stay in Mogadishu for five days, he said.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Monday said a first deployment of troops from Uganda should begin in the first week of March, as part of the AU force.
A Ugandan military officer, asking not to be named, has confirmed initial deployments by March 5, but declined to be more precise on grounds of security.
In recent weeks, the Somali capital has suffered the worst unrest since the interim government, backed by Ethiopian forces, drove out an Islamist movement late last year.
Unidentified gunmen have killed five people in separate incidents in Mogadishu since Monday, witnesses said.
The Somali transitional government said Tuesday it had prepared bases to receive AU forces and that the deployment would use all Somali airports.
"We have completed the arrangement of the positions to encamp the African Union peacekeeping forces, we are ready to welcome them," Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle told AFP in Mogadishu.
Jelle said the main AU base would be the former Somali defence ministry building in Mogadishu -- now a headquarters for Ethiopian forces -- and that former Somali military bases across the country would also be used.
A senior Somali official said the government had prepared two camps for the peacekeepers in Afgoye, 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of the coastal capital, and another nearby.
AU peacekeepers will guard Mogadishu international airport and the main port, the official said, requesting anonymity.
The Addis Ababa-based pan-African organisation, currently preparing the sensitive deployment to the Somali capital, has not confirmed a date for the troops to arrive.
Several insurgent groups have threatened to attack foreign peacekeepers.
The AU has so far managed to raise only half of the required 8,000 troops for the peacekeeping force, approved last week by the UN Security Council.
Uganda has promised 1,500 troops, with other pledges from Nigeria, Burundi, Malawi and Ghana.
Rival militias of clan warlords carved up Somalia after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
Source: AFP, Feb 27, 2007