SOMALIA - Mar 6 - Mortar Fire Greets First Au Troops In Somalia.

The first Ugandan peacekeeping troops are greeted with a volley of mortar rounds as they land in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, marking the start of the African Union's mission to bolster the embattled interim government. About 400 Ugandan soldiers with several armoured vehicles had arrived by Tuesday afternoon, flown in on cargo aircraft by Algerian pilots. A further 1,100 are expected within 24 hours. Ugandan army spokesmen said the mortars fired on the airport did no damage. But witnesses said a gun battle followed as militia loyal to the interim Somali government hunted for culprits. "Our troops left this morning and arrived in Mogadishu safely today", Uganda's defence minister, Ruth Nankabirwa, told a news conference in Kampala. Uganda's Pres Yoweri Museveni, has contributed the first troops to the AU force for Somalia, which has a UN mandate to support a transitional federal government seeking to assert its authority after Ethiopian troops ousted a coalition of Islamists late last year. The interim government has so far been confined largely to the town of Baidoa, due in part to a gathering insurgency blamed on Islamists or clan-based gunmen in Mogadishu. Somalia has been without a government since the overthrow in 1991 of dictator Siad Barre. Concerns that the AU mission will lack the manpower to play an effective role have been heightened by growing instability in Mogadishu in recent weeks. AU officials say Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi and Burundi are expected to send troops to bring the force to about 4,000 soldiers, but they say that at least 8,000 troops are needed. Analysts believe that there is a strong risk the AUmission will be perceived as partisan by opponents of the interim government, who see the administration as a stooge for Ethiopia, Somalia's traditional enemy. Islamist groups have threatened to target any foreign troops who deploy on Somali soil. Playing down the concerns, Uganda's army says it will take a conciliatory approach in Mogadishu, graveyard of failed UN and US interventions in the early 1990s. Mission spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda said the troops had been training for months, including attending peacekeeping courses provided by France and Britain and taking lessons in the Somali language and culture. "We don't want to be like the Americans who cordon off a mosque and search for guns and don't remove their shoes", he said.