By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Military officials from Uganda and Burundi last week visited Israel where discussions focused on deployment of troops to Gaza as part of an international security force at the instance of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, officials said.
A Board of Peace official told reporters that Ugandan officials joined a Burundian military delegation, and that Uganda is finalizing details of its participation after its parliament approved the troop deployment this month.
Nothing has been finalized with Burundi, but the official said they look forward to starting the process.
“We shared significant knowledge with one another, and the Burundi representatives expressed interest in our mission,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to discuss talks with potential troop-contributing countries ahead of any agreement.
AP quoted a Burundian military official as saying that three other senior military officers led the delegation to Israel and that Burundi appeared intent on joining.
It was not clear what Uganda or Burundi might be offering or what they might receive in return. Progress on the international force has been slow.
If Burundi moves ahead, the African nations would be the latest to join the international force for Gaza after Morocco, Kosovo, Kazakhstan and Albania made commitments. Uganda has committed around 1,200 personnel, and Morocco has committed up to 500. Kosovo, Kazakhstan and Albania in total have committed around 80.
Indonesia earlier said it was preparing to send 8,000 troops, by far the largest commitment, but has put that on hold after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
The proposed 20,000-strong force would be led by U.S. Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers. Troops committed remain far short of that goal.
Last month, Trump announced a deal for Hamas to disarm and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza. According to the deal, the International Stabilization Force would be deployed to areas of the Palestinian territory administered by an incoming technocratic committee, and Israeli forces would withdraw.
The force would help monitor the ceasefire, train Palestinian police and secure the delivery of aid, among other tasks.
