BRUSSELS: The European Union is expected to approve plans next week to train some Somali armed forces, an EU official said yesterday.

Under the proposal, the EU will train up to 2,000 Somali troops in Uganda, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. A decision is expected to be taken at a meeting of EU ministers on Monday and Tuesday.

“Once this is approved, we will be launching the planning,” Cristina Gallach told reporters. “There is a need and a possibility for the EU to train a number of Somali forces. Our preferred option is to do that in Uganda.”

The training would complement efforts by France, Djibouti and Uganda, Gallach said. Somalia says it wants to have 6,000 well trained troops altogether.

The country has had no strong central government since 1991 and western countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help it develop its security forces, hoping to fight piracy and restore order after more than two decades of war.

Fighting since the start of 2007 has killed some 19,000 civilians, uprooted 1.5 million from their homes and confined the government to a few key blocks of the capital, with an African Union force protecting key sites.

The seizure of international ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean by Somali gangs has driven up insurance rates and other costs in critical sea lanes linking Europe to Asia.

As well as the growing cost of piracy and the reach of pirate gangs, there is concern in Washington that Al Qaeda will try to develop training bases in southern Somalia.

“The EU cannot solve the problem of Somalia but it can contribute,” Gallach said.

Nato and the EU play a lead role against pirates in the region, while navy ships from China, Russia, Japan and other nations are also involved in the operations that are stretched thin in the vast Indian Ocean.

Somali pirates are currently holding at least 13 vessels and more than 230 crew hostage. They are estimated to have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms over the past three years.