NEW YORK, USA Sep 22 (Garowe Online) - Uganda's president has urged the international community to support the expansion of the African Union peacekeeping force (AMISOM) currently serving in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Radio Garowe reports.

Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, has called on the U.S. government to reinforce military plans to boost AMISOM peacekeepers in Somalia in order to safeguard the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu from collapse.

AMISOM peacekeepers

President Museveni, who is in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, was addressing reporters after meeting with U.S. Ambassador the U.N., Dr. Susan Rice.

“The interest of Uganda is to ensure total peace in Somalia,” President Museveni said, according to the Ugandan newspaper, Daily Monitor.

T he Ugandan leader called for AMISOM peacekeepers to reach the authorized force of 8,000 soldiers, some of which would be deployed in the key towns of Kismayo and Baidoa.

Currently, Kismayo and Baidoa remain under the control of Al Shabaab, the strongest insurgent faction in Somalia.

The 5,000-strong AMISOM peacekeeping force consists of Ugandan and Burundian soldiers. Many African countries that have pledged to boost the peacekeepers in Mogadishu have not lived up to earlier promises.

On Sep. 17, Al Shabaab suicide car bombers struck the AMISOM force headquarters at Mogadishu's international airport, killing at least 21 people. It was the deadliest attack on the African peacekeepers since AMISOM deployed in Mogadishu in March 2007.

Source: Garowe Online