Kampala, Jan 29 The Ugandan military said that it will send more peacekeeping troops to Somalia following the exit of those deployed by Burundi under the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).
Felix Kulayigye, Uganda's military spokesperson, told Xinhua news agency by telephone on Tuesday that Uganda has been added another area to cover, which was previously occupied by Burundian peacekeepers.
"It is inevitable that we shall have to add more troops because the numbers we have on the ground cannot cover the two sectors," Kulayigye said, noting that the troops will move to the Horn of African country as soon as the paperwork is concluded by the deploying authority, AUSSOM.
Uganda has since 2007 deployed peacekeeping troops in Somalia.
Until January, Burundi was one of the troop-contributing countries to the African Union peacekeeping force battling militants in Somalia. Other countries include Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda.
Meanwhile, tensions are running high in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as fighting between the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group and the DRC army continues in the eastern city of Goma, while civilian protests intensify in the capital, Kinshasa.
Hostilities resumed on Tuesday morning in Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province and a regional hub, after a relatively calm night. Mediation efforts to restore peace remain pending on various regional and international platforms.
Local sources told Xinhua that intense fighting has been ongoing since early Tuesday near the airport, a strategic location that previously fell into the hands of the rebels.
In Kinshasa, the city woke up in turmoil as civil society groups mobilised the local population to protest against the violence in Goma and the inaction of the international community.
Protesters flooded the city's major arteries, slowing traffic, blocking commercial activities, burning tyres and chanting in front of the foreign embassies and the headquarters of the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission.
--IANS
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