Somalia: Museveni Tells UN to Enforce Blanket Security Check

By Eric sande

Kampala----President Museveni on Wednesday October 6 told the visiting 15-nation team from the UN Security Council to enforce blanket security check over Somalia by declaring its airspace a no-fly zone and blocking seaports in a bid to curb the influx of arms and the terrorism activities in the war-torn country.

The radical procedure he said is essential since the Somali insurgents are currently replenishing their arsenal with supplies delivered using water vessels.

“If such a move is implemented, it will reduce the influx of arms in Somalia by over 70 per cent,” Museveni reportedly told the delegation. The delegation was led by Uganda’s permanent representative to the UN Security Council, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

The President added that the effort to lobby reluctant nations to contribute troops to the African Mission in Somalia can be relaxed and the few willing ones be facilitated and identified as the frontiers to achieving victory in their endeavours .

He reportedly told the meeting that the insurgencies fighting the African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) are not Somalis but al Qaeda insurgents from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

At a press conference after the meeting, Museveni reiterated Uganda’s commitment to send more troops to Somalia stating that, “Uganda can mobilise any number of troops required for Somalia peace-keeping operation if the international community is ready to pick the bills. We have the human beings, training and experience; we can raise any number of soldiers because of our revolutionary history.”

Museveni called for financial support to increase troop levels in the AMISOM. Articulating that Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have contributed troops to Somalia, with Uganda contributing the highest number. The AU, which currently leads the Somalia mission on behalf of the UN, hopes a troop heave from the present 7,000 to 20,000 could break the back of al Shabaab, if deployed in the countryside.

The UN delegation responded to the request stating that they will consult with their individual countries before replying to Museveni’s proposals. They were in Uganda for a one-day tour, and were not specific on the kind of support it would give to AMISOM. The team later left for Sudan, where it will visit Juba, Darfur and then Khartoum.