AU calls for 3,000 more troops for Somalia force

African Union troops called Tuesday for the deployment of 3,000 more soldiers to secure the war-torn Somali capital after the bulk of Islamist insurgents pulled out of Mogadishu. "Our forces now have to cover a much larger area of the city, and we risk being overstretched," said Major General Fred Mugisha, the Ugandan commander of the 9,000-strong AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). "I appeal to our international partners -- on whom we rely -- to expedite the deployment of the 3,000 extra troops." Mugisha called for the troops -- authorised last December by the UN Security Council -- to be deployed "as a matter of urgency." The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels, who had controlled around half of the city, abandoned key Mogadishu positions on Saturday, saying it was a change of military tactics. However, clashes have continued between AMISOM forces and rebel remnants in the famine-struck capital. "The extremists have however not withdrawn completely," Mugisha said, estimating that up to 95 percent of Mogadishu "has been liberated, creating areas for starving people to access food aid." "The city is not as calm as we would like it to be," he added. AMISOM is currently made up of troops from Uganda and Burundi.