Somalia: Summit urges 20,000 troop deployment

A two day summit of the inter-governmental authority on development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa ended Monday 5th July with several concrete actions to chart the way forward in solving the political and security crisis in this troubled country.

The IGAD Summit resolved to work with all parties including the African Union mission (AMISOM) and the Security Council to raise 20,000 troops to be deployed throughout the country.

Acknowledging the deteriorating security situation in the country, which poses serious threat to the peace, security and stability of Somalis, the transitional federal government, the region and the wider international community, the IGAD leaders outlined a series of measures needed to be taken to contain the crisis.

They emphasized the need for an urgent and robust response by the international community led by the UN Security Council to arrest the escalating danger facing the country and the sub region and reiterated its previous call to the UN to convert AMISOM into a UN peace keeping operation without delay.

Noting that the approved level of AMISOM troops has not been achieved, the leaders decided to deploy 2000 peace keepers under AMISOM immediately and called upon the AU commission to mobilize the necessary resources, logistics and equipment for the deployment.

The leaders also endorsed the recommendations of the military mission and directed the chiefs of defense Staff of IGAD members States to review and implement, as appropriate, the recommendations made by the military mission.

The IGAD secretariat is to be strengthened within 15 days to enable the establishment of an operational level coordination mechanism to strengthen and harmonize support to the transitional federal government in the areas of training, establishment of command and control structure.

In his remarks Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki noted that the situation in the country has reached a defining moment and concrete actions must now be taken in order to turn the country around.

He underscored the need to elevate the Somali problem and place it right at the centre of global concern for international peace and security in order to facilitate full and adequate participation of the international community in the crisis.

‘In this regard, I fully support the proposal for an AU Eminent Person to be the apex coordinator in helping raise the profile of the Somali problem as well as mobilize resources and equipment required for sustainable engagement,’ said President Kibaki.

President Kibaki noted the large movements into neighboring countries observing that Kenya today hosts about 400,000 Somali refugees from at tremendous financial and social cost to the country. This situation would be unnecessary if the country’s political question is settled.

The Summit was attended by Presidents Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, Omar Hassan El Bashir of Sudan, Ismael Omar Guelleh of Djibouti and Sheik Shariff Ahmed of the transitional federal government.