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"id": 2680,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to support very whole heartedly this Motion. Somalia, as all my colleagues who have spoken said, remains a major destabilizing factor in this region. If we are to develop, we must have peace. Right from the word go, when Siyad Barre was overthrown, external forces came into Somalia without strategy or understanding what they came to do. The East African region under IGAD has midwifed peace in Sudan. The East African region under IGAD has midwifed the creation of the TFG in Somalia. This is the only entity that is recognized internationally as a government in Somalia, although it controls very little of the Somali territory. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the AMISOM forces in Somalia today have an authorized strength of 12,000. Burundi and Uganda have put together 9,500. All those troops are in Mogadishu. With the combined effort of the AMISOM forces in Mogadishu and the 8,000 TFG forces they have been able to defeat Al Shabaab and route them out of Mogadishu completely. Now they can consolidate the peace and security of Mogadishu. But Somalia is not Mogadishu and Mogadishu is not Somalia. We must do much more than that. We have as a region asked the United Nations to expand the AMISOM strength from 12,000 to 20,000. That request has been received very positively. The UN has indicated that once we reach the 12,000 strength they have no difficulty in expanding the numbers to 20,000. We, as a region, have indicated to the UN Security Council and they are in agreement that once we get the extra troops beyond what is in Mogadishu today, they should not be deployed to Mogadishu where we have enough troops already doing a good job. Kenya, for example, has liberated up to 130 kilometres of our frontier into Somalia. That area is free of Al Shaabab . It needs a stabilizing force. It needs a peace keeping force. We cannot keep peace where there is no peace. We can only keep peace where there is peace. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is why the UN that started off with what I thought to be a parochial policy of saying that neighbours of Somalia cannot contribute troops to AMISOM, on our representation and advocacy, changed that resolution. The UN has now allowed any neighbour to deploy troops to AMISOM. Djibouti has given a battalion. They are ready and will be deployed on the 16th of this month. Kenya has requested - and it has been agreed by the AU Peace and Security Council - that those troops should not go to Mogadishu. They should come to the liberated areas in southern Somalia. Kenya has offered to contribute - and the Minister of State for Defence, myself and others are discussing to see how strong our force will be in terms of numbers, logistical support required and the area of deployment and command structure--- I agree with those who have contributed, asking that we look for a structure where our troops can enjoy some degree of autonomy in command. That is something that we are going to negotiate and it is not difficult to achieve. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, over and above Kenya’s contribution, it should also be recorded that Uganda has an extra two battalions ready to move into Somalia. Burundi has an extra two battalions ready to move into Somalia. Nigeria has three battalions ready to move into Somalia. Guinea has two battalions ready to move into Somalia. Sierra Leone has a contingent of 500 policemen to come into Somalia to help in civil duties. It should not be lost that Kenya trained policemen for Somalia who are doing a wonderful job today. As I support this Motion, I wish I had time to say more---"
}