Left alone to help Somalia.

last updated 8 January 2015

Uganda

Editorial

Uganda “has been let down miserably by its brothers in the African Union,” said the Kampala New Vision in an editorial. The A.U. decided months ago that it would send troops to restore peace in Somalia. The union got a U.N. mandate for the mission, but it pledged to provide the peacekeepers itself. “Finally, after centuries of foreign interventions, Africans themselves would take charge of their own affairs.” Well, where are they? Uganda is the only country “in this formidable continent of over 50 states” that “kept its word and promptly deployed two battalions” to the anarchic Horn of Africa. We can’t stem the Islamist violence alone. Yet the Ethiopian troops that have been shoring up the Somali government can’t stay; Ethiopia is Somalia’s ancient enemy, and the Ethiopian presence only drives more Somalis to support the Islamist insurgency. One Ugandan soldier has already been killed in this unstable situation. “It is high time the A.U. and its member states acted on the pompous declarations” they make at summits. “Failure to act now will not only expose Ugandan peacekeepers to unacceptable risks but also condemn an entire population to prolonged suffering and death.”