Actualité Afrique: Actualité africaine
AU ready to deploy 3,000 additional troops to Somalia - The African Union (AU) criticized the world for deploying “half-hearted measures” to deal with the crisis in Somalia and called for urgent help to deploy 3,000 more troops on the ground to stabilise Somalia.
AU Commission President Jean Ping said most people were dying from preventable deaths in Somalia because of the international community’s failure to act swiftly on warnings of drought and worsening humanitarian crisis on the ground.
The number of troops on the ground in Somalia has risen to 9,595 troops. Additional 3,000 troops have been pledged from Burundi and Uganda.
Ping said the troops were awaiting the requisite equipment to be deployed. The commission has also received troop pledges from Djibouti, Guinea and Sierra.
Addressing a ministerial summit in New York on the drought in the Horn of Africa region, Ping said the AU views the current drought and famine situation as a call for greater attention to the situation in the country.
“Millions of Somalis are affected and many are dying for what could, to a large extent, have been prevented, had the international community acted swiftly and heeded the early warning calls made by the humanitarian organizations.”
Ping said while Africa remains mobilized in support of the Somali population, it still remains an imperative for the international community to provide support that is commensurate with the dire situation on the ground.
“It should be borne in mind that for the Somali Transitional Institutions (TFIs) to successfully address these challenges, it is necessary the international community moves away from the half-hearted measures that have characterised its efforts so far and provide more,” Ping told the ministerial meeting.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon convened the ministerial meeting to discuss long-term strategies to respond to the drought crisis in the Horn of Africa region.
African leaders meeting in Kenya agreed to push for an ambitious “green revolution” plan, targeting the increase of area under forest cover and environmental upgrade to fight growing desertification in the region.
The leaders also called for massive irrigation, to enable the region shift from rain-fed agriculture, largely blamed for regular food shortages in the semi-desert region.
Ping told the meeting that in the last five months, tremendous progress has been recorded in enhancing security in Somalia.
During this period, Somalia’s interim government managed to push out the Al Shabaab militants from positions in Mogadishu, radically expanding its foothold on the capital, Mogadishu.
Following the forced withdrawal of Al Shabaab from Mogadishu, AMISOM — African Union Mission in Somalia and TFG forces now control the capital.
“This is the first time since the fall of the Siad Barre regime that a central administration is taking control of Mogadishu. We need to build on this to consolidate security, extend the authority of the TFG beyond the capital and address further security requirements for strategic installations,” Ping said.
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