Ugandan troops face a possible “Vietnam†in taking on a peacekeeping mission in Somalia, diplomats warn, with Eritrea now telling President Yoweri Museveni to pull his troops out.
Isyas Afeworki of Eritrea
With the vanguard of Uganda’s 1,600 contingent of peacekeepers now in Mogadishu, the Eritrean government has upped the ante on the controversial force by telling them bluntly to go home.
Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu told the BBC that unless Kampala withdrew its soldiers, the whole East African region could be destabilised.
Behind the Eritrean concern is a belief that Ethiopia and now Uganda are acting at the behest of the US.
President Museveni has already acknowledged that Washington is paying for the peacekeepers.
Mr Abdu accused Ethiopia of being a US puppet in driving out the forces of the Union of Islamic Courts from Mogadishu, whom Eritrea supported.
Ugandan troops have already been shelled by insurgents angry at their arrival and Mr Abdu said worse could follow.
The Financial Times newspaper suggested on Saturday that President Museveni had agreed to the peacekeeping mission to deflect attention from his troubles at home.
This follows a strike by the judiciary and the tear-gassing of opposition supporters in Kampala over a week ago.
The paper noted that Washington had adopted a far more conciliatory role in its relations with Kampala since President Museveni signed up for the war on terror.
“Like Meles Zenawi, who enjoys US support as a counter-terrorism ally in spite of a crackdown on the opposition after elections in 2005, President Museveni’s strategic role has encouraged Washington to damp down criticism of him,†the FT said.
“Forged during the Clinton years, when President Museveni formed the linchpin in a regional alliance against the Islamist government in Sudan, his long-standing convergence with US security interests has again come to the fore in Somalia.â€
But one Western diplomat has described Uganda’s task in Somalia as a “suicide mission†despite the faith shown in the army by President Museveni.
International observers say at least 8,000 more troops are needed to fulfil the expectations of the peacekeeping mission in Somalia, but so far only 2,500 more — from Ghana, Malawi, Burundi and Nigeria — have been promised.
