Uganda threatens Somalia pullout

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Audio Attachment Listen to Chris Ackumey Lawyer Chris Ackumey says he is unfazed by the Chief Justice’s invitation to him to substantiate his claim that a judge he knows took a bribe of GHS500 in 2008, adding that he has an incontrovertible and overwhelming evidence to prove his claim. Mr Ackumey who noted that he appreciated the opportunity to give his evidence, reiterated in an interview with Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoe Tuesday that corruption in the judiciary is real and no longer a perception on paper. He first made the bribery allegation whilst contributing to discussions on Joy FM’s Newsfile programme on Saturday and promised to name the judge at the appropriate time.

2 June 2011 Last updated at 21:12 ET

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said Somalia’s transitional government should be given another year to consolidate gains against militants.

Otherwise, Uganda will withdraw its troops helping the government fight Islamist al-Shabab militants, he said.

The current mandate for the UN-backed government is due to expire on 20 August and the UN is calling for elections to be held quickly.

Mr Museveni said polls this year would allow the militants to reorganise.

Uganda currently contributes about 5,000 troops to an African Union (AU) peacekeeping force, called Amisom, in Somalia. Burundi supplies the rest of the force.

“It seems to us that the win-win situation for all parties seems to be an extension of the Transitional Federal Institutions for a period not exceeding one year,” Mr Museveni told an international meeting on Somalia held in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

Elections held too soon, he warned, would “allow the extremists time to reorganise and cause problems and undermine the battlefield gains so far obtained”.

He added: “If the current system collapses, or if it is seriously undermined, we can have no justification to stay in that situation – we will leave Somalia.”

Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmad told the International Contact Group on Somalia that the country was too unstable for a vote. He also called for the transitional government’s tenure to be extended.

The AU force in Somalia deployed to Mogadishu in 2007 to back the weak interim government.

Somalia has been racked by constant war for more than 20 years. Its last functioning national government was toppled in 1991.

Originally posted here:
Uganda threatens Somalia pullout