Geresom Musamali and Jean Pierre Nkunzimana
28 November 2007
Kampala — A team of the Burundi armed forces has been to Somalia to assess the situation on the ground ahead of the army's deployment under the African Union peace-keeping force.
UPDF spokesperson Maj. Felix Kulayigye yesterday said the team went to Somalia about two weeks ago to make logistical preparations for their 1,700 troops.
Military sources in Bujumbura, Burundi's capital, yesterday said nine officers had flown to Mogadishu, the Somali capital. The sources added that some officers had already returned to Bujumbura to present their reports. In a related development, the UPDF chief of operations and training, Brig. Silver Kayemba, said the army will send French-speaking soldiers to Somalia to ease communication with the Burundian troops.
"The Burundi forces will join us in the Somalia peace-keeping mission by the end of this week. "Some of you (graduands) are going to help us interact with them. You cannot survive in the modern world without being bilingual." Kayemba was speaking during the graduation of UPDF officers who had completed a French course. The government of France sponsored the course, conducted by Marie-Rose Berocan of Alliance Francaise, a French-language institute in Kampala. René Forceville, the new French ambassador to Uganda, assured the soldiers that they would not regret learning French.
Burundi defence minister Gen. Germain Niyoyankana, during his visit to Uganda two months ago, promised that the troops would be in Somalia at the beginning of this month.
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