KAMPALA, April 24– The defense chiefs of countries contributing troops to the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) are meeting in Uganda to discuss progress, troops repositioning and strategies for the stabilization of the Horn of African country.
The military chiefs from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, and from Somalia, convened in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, on Wednesday.
The outcomes of the military chiefs’ meeting will be presented at a meeting of the ministers of defense and foreign affairs on Thursday, Henry Oryem Okello, Uganda’s state minister for foreign affairs in charge of international cooperation, told Xinhua by telephone.
“The defense chiefs are meeting to review the progress, evaluate the ongoing peace efforts and assess the strategies for the stabilization of Somalia,” said Okello.
The outcomes of the ministers’ meeting on Thursday will feed into a summit scheduled for Friday, he said. The summit was agreed upon during a recent visit of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to Uganda, where he met with his host counterpart, President Yoweri Museveni.
According to the AU, AUSSOM faces a funding challenge of 90.4 million U.S. dollars to support military, police, civilian and operational components of its mission for the first half of this year.
Uganda was the first country to deploy AU peacekeepers in Somalia in March 2007, following a United Nations Security Council mandate authorizing the mission. (Xinhua)
