Safeguarding Somalia's transitional government will cost up to 500 million U.S. dollars and require 10,000 soldiers, according to military officials meeting in Uganda Saturday. Army experts from countries sending troops to war-ravaged Somalia, including Uganda, Kenya, Djibouti, Sudan and Ethiopia, are discussing the peacekeeping operation's logistical requirements and on Saturday handed a report of their recommendations to military heads of the countries involved. "We have recommended about eight battalions or up to 10,000 men who will be deployed in phases. The cost we have been looking at is in the region of 500 million U.S. dollars for a period of about eight months," said a Ugandan military official. Details of the report were not revealed but Ugandan army commander Lieutenant General Aronda Nyakairima said the meeting had achieved over 60 per cent of its agenda. Military chiefs from each of the five countries contributing troops will study the report before handing their recommendations to their respective defence ministers who are meeting in the Ugandan city of Entebbe on Monday. The report will also be discussed at the regional foreign ministers' meeting scheduled for March 16 in Kenya, according to Ugandan officials. As member states of the regional Inter-government Authority of Development (IGAD), the five countries will have to seek clearance from the U.N. before deploying peace keeping troops as Somalia has been under a U.N. arms embargo since 1992.
