Somalia's neighbours on Friday sought to remove obstacles to a possible intervention to support the ailing government in Mogadishu during a regional summit in Addis Ababa.
The six-member Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) held talks in the Ethiopian capital to reiterate its support for the transitional federal government (TFG) led by Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
The mandate of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) as defined by the United Nations Security Council stipulates that neighbouring nations cannot contribute to the force.
IGAD's special envoy to Somalia, Kipruto arap Kirwa, argued that the UN resolution should be amended to authorise countries such as Kenya and Djibouti to send troops and beef up the 4,300 Burundians and Ugandans already deployed.
Djibouti "has promised a battalion of 450 men for AMISOM as soon as the restrictions in the mandate preventing neighbouring countries from contributing are lifted," the small coastal state's foreign minister, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, told AFP.
When the AU peacekeeping force was created in 2007, member states had pledged a total of 8,000 troops.
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