Amisom only reached its original authorised strength of 8,000 troops (all from Burundi and Uganda) on December 1st, with the arrival in Mogadishu of 850 additional soldiers from Burundi. It has not been confirmed where the recently authorised extra 4,000 soldiers will come from, but these two countries are likely to supply most of them. Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, made a surprise visit to Mogadishu on November 28th, the first foreign head of state to set foot in the Somali capital in almost 20 years. Accompanied by a group of army officers, Mr Museveni visited Ugandan troops and met Mr Sharif and Mr Farmajo. He also visited injured civilians receiving treatment in an Amisom field hospital. The Ugandan president, who is seeking re-election in February, has made the campaign against Somalia's Islamist insurgents a priority since July, when al-Shabab murdered dozens of unarmed civilians in bombings in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Although Uganda's majority contribution to Amisom has been generally appreciated by the international community, the force has also attracted controversy. It has been accused by several non-governmental organisations of killing hundreds of civilians with indiscriminate shelling of residential areas in its fight against insurgents. On November 23rd two civilians died and nine were injured when Amisom troops fired into a crowd near Mogadishu airport. The force commander, Nathan Mugisha, publicly apologised over the incident. The six Amisom soldiers involved were arrested and a formal investigation launched.