FOUR UGANDAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN MOGADISHU
Uganda is the only country which has sent peace keepers to Somalia as part of the African Union (AU) peace keeping mission.
Countries which were to send troops to Somalia like Burundi, Nigeria, and Ghana have not lived up to their promise. The AU wanted about 8000 peace keeping troops in Somalia. They are about 1600 Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) currently in Somalia. Bringing peace to Somalia will not be an easy task after many years of war. This week a remote-controlled bomb killed four Ugandan
soldiers and injured five in the Somali capital. This brings the number of Ugandan soldiers who have died in Somalia on the AU peacekeeping mission now to five. The first solider died on March 31 2007 from heavy artillery attacks by the Islamists on the capital. The few UPDF soldiers are likely to face a rough time if other African countries don’t come to their rescue and also send troops. Many countries don’t want to be caught up in the Somalia chaos and have left it only to Uganda. This is a testing moment for the AU they must show that indeed Africans can solve their own problems. Uganda as a country is sacrificing a lot to have peace in Somalia it unfortunate that those who hate peace decide to repay them the way they did.