Abdalle Ahmed
Two Kenyan soldiers keep guard inside their base near the Kismayo airstrip. Photo by Abdalle Ahmed, 28 Feb 2013.
MOGADISHU (RBC) The first deployment of 850 soldiers from Sierra Leone army is expected to reach to southern Somalia’s port town of Kismayo, Amisom spokesman said.
Currently more than 4,600 soldiers from the neighboring Kenya under the flag of African Union Mission in Somalia [AMISOM] are operating in some parts of southern Somalia regions including Kismayo town, some 500 Kms away from the capital of Mogadishu.
“We are looking ahead that some 850 soldiers from Sierra Leone will reach Kismayo town soon.” Colonel Ali Aden Houmed said in a press conference in Mogadishu on Thursday.
The spokesman also noted that on reaching the troops from Sierra Leone to this port town that the number of the Kenyan forces will be reduced.
“Also the number of KDF will be slowed down to 850 as agreed by the AMISOM command and the Kenyan government” Colonel Houmed added.
AMISOM has also clarified that some of the Formed Police Unit from Uganda and Nigeria will be deployed into the areas liberated from the Islamist fighters including Kismayo, Baidoa and Beledweyn.
Also, Gen. Antoni Ngere of the KDF in Kismayo told Raxanreeb Online that they were expecting to minimize the number of his troops inside Somalia once the Sierra Leone military reaches the ground.
Sierra Leone, recovering after the end of its civil war in 2002, had already pledged that they will contribute troops to the ongoing African Union mission in Somalia which started in 2007.
The move comes as the Ethiopian troops have now begun to vacate southern parts of the country, a withdrawal which Somalia government and western diplomats expressed great concern due to the security vacuum that might arise.
RBC Radio
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