– Regional Islamist threat –
Recent Shabaab attacks have targeted key areas of government, or the security forces, in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities that they are winning the war against the Islamist fighters.
“We are proud to join the UN family, and will do our utmost to ensure the UN is able to continue its work in Mogadishu under safe and secure conditions,” said Uganda’s deputy army commander Charles Angina.
The UN force in Mogadishu comes amid wider warnings of the threat of attacks by Shabaab fighters or supporters in the wider region, especially in neighbouring Kenya.
The United States on Saturday said it was preparing to cut staff levels at its Nairobi embassy because of the mounting threat of attacks in Kenya by Islamist militants. READ: US signals staff cut at Nairobi embassy over terror threats.
Earlier this week Britain, France and Australia also issued updated travel advice for their citizens in Kenya, following a string of grenade attacks.
In Somalia, continued conflict, compounded by poor rains and funding shortfalls, are threatening the few gains made since an extreme famine less than three years ago, with the UN and aid agencies warning that the troubled country could be sliding back into a food crisis.
Somalia was the hardest hit by extreme drought in 2011 that affected over 13 million people across the Horn of Africa, with famine zones declared in large parts of the war-ravaged south.
Some 250,000 people, around half of them young children, died in Somalia during that famine, according to the United Nations, which has acknowledged it should have done more to prevent the tragedy.
Among the warning signs today is the fact that seasonal rains crucial for farming and usually lasting from April to June have yet to start in key southern areas of Somalia.
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