Uganda to send 700 troops to southern Sudan

KAMPALA, Uganda, Apr 5, 2005 (PANA) — A battalion of 700 Ugandan troops will join the
multinational force to oversee the power-sharing deal between the
Khartoum government and Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the
vast south of the East African nation.

Uganda army and defence spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza said here
Tuesday that Uganda’s decision to contribute troops was in response to a
request from the United Nations.

The troops will be part of the over 10,000 troops and about 700 civilian
police personnel to oversee security in southern Sudan after a peace
agreement between the SPLM and Khartoum signed in Nairobi, Kenya, early
this year to end a 23-year long civil war.

Uganda is currently training a big force of over 1,000 soldiers for
deployment in Somalia to help in establishing a government in the Horn of
Africa nation.

The East African nation also plans to send a small peacekeeping force to
troubled Ivory Coast and Liberia, the army spokesman said.