BUJUMBURA (Halbeeg News)-The government of Burundi has called for urgent summit of African Union peacekeeping troops in Somalia to review the decision to withdraw some of its forces from the operation.
Somalia government announced on December last year that the Burundian soldiers must leave by the end of February, but Bujumbura has strongly opposed the drawdown of its troops.
The president, Pierre Nkurunziza has on Tuesday called for an urgent summit to discuss the contested withdrawal of 1,000 Burundian troops from Somalia before the end of the month.
“We agreed to call an urgent summit of AMISOM troop-contributing countries to review this decision,” Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza said after an official visit by his Somali counterpart Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed in Bujumbura.
Somalia’s president who visited the country on Monday has praised the sacrifice of Burundi’s soldiers who were among the first to be deployed to Somalia in 2007.
Burundi has the second-largest contingent in the peacekeeping operation with 5,400 troops, after Uganda, which has 6,200 men.
A source at the AU, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the names of the soldiers to be sent back to Burundi had already been decided and would leave between February 21 and 26.
The AU has a 21,500 Force, AMISOM, to support Somalia’s fragile internationally-backed government and fight al- Shabaab armed group which is struggling to the toppled internationally backed federal government.
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