20100717
africanews

The US vowed to boost support for a peacekeeping mission in Somalia following the pledge of another 2,000 Ugandan peacekeepers to Somalia. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Washington would increase aid for the AU Mission in Somalia (Amisom), a UN backed peacekeeping mission that seeks to help Somali government for restoring peace.

"We've been the major contributor to the Amisom mission. That won't change," said Crowley.

He said that they welcome Uganda’s decision to send an extra 2,000 peacekeepers to Somalia.

"We have reviewed, since Sunday, the support that we're providing to Amisom. We are going to beef that up... if Uganda needs support in terms of its additional troop complement, we certainly will continue to support Amisom."

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said at a news conference that his country is committed to sending 2,000 more troops to Somalia.

Al-Qaeda linked group of Al-Shabaab, which claimed the two blast attacks hit at Kampala, said it was avenging the killing of civilians by the African Union peacekeepers.

“If you murder our people, we will also massacre yours; if you devastate our houses, we will devastate yours. These explosions were a minor according to what your boys do in Mogadishu,” said Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, Al-Shabaab spokesman.

Uganda was the first country to commit peacekeeping troops for the African Union’s mission in Somalia, where now 6000 forces from Uganda and Burundi stay.