Uganda is ready to send an additional 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Somalia despite threats from hard-line Somali Islamists of more attacks if peacekeepers are not withdrawn, an army spokesman said on Friday.
Coordinated explosions ripped through two nightspots in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Sunday, killing 73 people watching the World Cup final.
“If we’re called on to contribute a stronger force in Somalia, we’re ready to send an extra 2,000,” spokesman Felix Kulayigye told Reuters by telephone.
The al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, which claimed the Kampala strikes, said it was avenging the killing of civilians by the African Union peacekeeping force. Ugandan forces form the backbone of the 6,100-strong deployment in Somalia.
Regional allies have promised to send an extra 2,000 soldiers to Somalia by mid-August.