Museveni urges Somalia President to raise funds for peacekeepers’ salaries

[Deeq A.]

Kampala (PP News Desk) — President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni expressed concerns about lack of funds to sustain peacekeeping mission in Somalia. He told the visiting Somalia President Hassan Sheikh that Uganda could share weapons and food to liberate territories under Al-Shabaab’s control. “Once you say salary you go to UAE, they pay one month’s [salary], then Qatar… then Turkiye. When will you get [salary] security” said President Museveni.

President Museveni underscored to his counterpart President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud that Uganda could not pay salaries of Somali soldiers and ATMIS peacekeepers.

More than 90% of money raised for stabilising Somalia goes to ATMIS soldiers of which Ugandan forces in Somalia are part. Somalia Federal Government is worried about the possibility that donor fatigue may scupper the plan to secure several years’ salaries for Somalia’s army and police and security forces.

The Somali National Army is still constrained by improper recruitment practices that tilt the employment to certain regions near Mogadishu, a policy that deepens the partisan nature of the Somali armed forces. President Museveni’s remarks expose the dilemma facing the new dispensation in Mogadishu at a time political acrimony between Mogadishu and several federal member states calls into question the slogan Somalia at peace with itself adopted by President Mohamud as an electoral theme.

© Puntland Post, 2022

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