Friday, March 02, 2007
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BUJUMBURA, March 2 (Reuters) - Burundi is ready to send peacekeepers to help stabilise Somalia but appealed for weapons and assistance to move troops to the volatile country, the defence minister said on Friday.
The African Union wants to send 8,000 peacekeepers into Somalia to help the government restore order and relieve Ethiopian troops patrolling the capital Mogadishu, one of the world's most dangerous cities, after a brief war that ousted Islamist fighters.
Burundi has pledged 1,700 troops toward the effort.
"On the technical level, we are ready. The major problem we have is related to equipment. We need heavy weaponry and evacuation equipment," Burundi Defence Minister Lieutenant-General Germain Niyoyankana told reporters after meeting with U.S. Army General William E. Ward in Bujumbura.
Ward promised the United States would help Burundi.
"Burundi has an active role in maintaining security and stability for the region," Ward said. "As Burundi determines what its requirements are, we will do our best to satisfy those requirements."
The central African nation has also sent about 50 army and police officers to Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
Ugandan troops are already in Somalia. Nigeria, Ghana, and Malawi are also expected to contribute troops to the force.
Burundi is emerging from more then a decade of civil war that killed 300,000 people.
A 5,600-strong U.N. force was deployed to Burundi in June 2004. Several hundred of the troops remain in the country, now operating under an AU mission to monitor a ceasefire agreement between the government and Burundi's last rebel group.
Sourece: Reuters, Mar 02, 2007