Brussels - EU foreign ministers will on Monday give the green light for European instructors to train some 2 000 Somali soldiers to reinforce the embryonic government army, diplomatic sources said.
"The plan is to train 2 000 members of the Somali security forces in Uganda, one diplomat said on Friday.
The operation, in which around 100 European military personnel will take part, could begin in May, another diplomat said, adding that it had not yet been determined which EU nations would contribute, on a voluntary basis.
"We are in the process of discussing the national contributions," he said.
Somalia has been gripped by civil wars and insurgencies and bereft of stable government since the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Uganda was chosen because its troops constitute the lion's share of the African Union mission in Somalia, AMISOM.
Off the coast of Somalia, the EU is running an anti-piracy mission in the waters of the Gulf of Aden, but senior officials say the real way to combat the problem is on Somali territory.
The EU has given substantial political support to the interim government, as well as funding the AMISOM mission.
The idea was discussed by EU defence ministers in November with France and Spain in particular strongly in favour.
The European foreign ministers on Monday will also discuss "what equipment, and pay the Somali troops will need", a diplomat said.
source:news24.com/
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