Uganda has signed a memorandum of understanding with the African Union (AU) about the deployment of Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia, according to reports on Saturday.

The memorandum, spelling out the details of the peacekeeping mission AMISOM, was signed on Wednesday in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, by Uganda's Defense Minister Crispus Kiyonga and Ambassador Said Djinnit, Commissioner for Peace and Security on behalf of the AU.

Though the Uganda People's Defense Force declined to go to the details of the operation, it was believed that an advance party had been already in Mogadishu while the bulk of the troops are expected to leave at the end of next week.

"We cannot reveal anything about the operation at this stage," said commander of the land forces, Gen. Katumba Wamala, adding, "a few changes are still being discussed in Addis Ababa about the terms of deployment."

"All we can say is that we are pre-positioning tanks and other equipment for transport and making arrangements in preparation for the troops to move," he said.

The over-all AU force, comprising also of Nigerian, Burundian, Ghanaian and Malawian troops, is commanded by Uganda's Maj. Gen Levi Karuhanga.

Meanwhile, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said he would hold a national reconciliation conference soon that would be open to all clans in the country.

Somalia's transitional government, backed by Ethiopian warplanes, tanks and troops, drove an Islamist movement out of Mogadishu last December, ending its six-month rule of the capital and much of the south.

The Islamists who survived scattered back to their clan areas and have vowed to fight an insurgency against the government and the planned 8,000-strong AU peacekeeping force.

Source: Xinhua