'Peacekeepers land in Somalia'

A small advance team of peacekeeping soldiers from Uganda has landed in the Somali government's interim capital, according to Somali officials.

The Ugandan officers wearing uniforms arrived on a cargo plane in Baidoa.

The south-central trading town is where the government made its temporary home until defeating rival Islamists in a December war and taking the capital Mogadishu.

"Thirty-five officers from Uganda came out and the plane left," said customs official Ali Mohamed Adan.

The Ugandan government, which has been secretive about their exact deployment date on security grounds, denied the report.

"There are no (Ugandan) troops in Baidoa. There are no troops in Somalia," said Ugandan army Captain Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the AU mission. "We're leaving next week."

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.