African Union peacekeepers have been operating in Somalia without receiving their salaries since May, an AU envoy says.

Outgoing AU special envoy to Somalia Nicholas Bwakira said the donors have only paid 30 percent of the funds they pledged in Brussels early this year, According to the Press TV correspondent.

Bwakira added that the issue will have a huge impact on the troops’ morale.

Donors, who met in Brussels in April, pledged over $250 million in support of an expanded AU peacekeeping operation and payment of Somalia’s security forces.

“No country would keep its forces without payment. No democracy would do that,” he said, adding “This has a very bad impact on the morale of the troops and that of the government concerned.”

Bwakira said the US provided only $2 million, and the Somali government $3 million, while the Arab League has given $1 million.

According to a report published in Uganda’s Daily Monitor, each AU soldier on duty in Mogadishu is budgeted to earn an average monthly salary of $550.

The 5,000-strong AU forces, which are mainly from Uganda and Burundi are the only foreign forces deployed in the war-torn country since March 2007 as part of UN-backed efforts to stabilize the troubled land and shore up the fragile internationally recognized Somali government.

However, Ugandan army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Felix Kulayige is confident that the arrears will be settled soon, adding that the issue is currently being addressed at AU headquarters.

“We are confident the manner will be sorted out sooner rather than later,” he said.

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PressTV

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