Burundi Threatens to Withdraw All Its Troops From Somalia
- African Union wants Burundi to pull out 1,000 of its soldiers
- Burundi says reduced contigent will endanger remaining troops
Photographer: Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP via Getty Images
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Burundi lawmakers backed the government’s threat to withdraw all the nation’s troops serving under an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, saying a reduced contingent would endanger the remaining soldiers.
The AU, following a plan to gradually remove foreign soldiers from Somalia as it builds its own army after decades of civil war, asked Burundi to withdraw 1,000 of its 5,400 troops. Burundi in December proposed to pull out 341 troops and asked that other nations contributing troops to the mission known as Amisom, withdraw the rest.