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Nigerian troops are likely to be added to an African Union (AU) force in Somalia in January after Ethiopian soldiers pull out of the country, the African bloc has said.
The commitment by Umar Yar'Adua, Nigeria's president, comes as Addis Ababa prepares to withdraw its 3,000-strong contingent from Somalia.
"The president of Nigeria has confirmed to me personally that one Nigerian battalion will be sent to Somalia in a short time," Jean Ping, the AU's commission chairman, said on Sunday.
"He told me that the troops are equipped and ready, which makes me believe they will be sent in January," he said.
About 850 officers and men are in the battalion, which has been preparing for deployment since August.
Political wrangling
Somalia's weak transitional government is facing a fresh surge in attacks from opposition fighters, threatening the fall of the capital Mogadishu.
Fighters from al-Shabab, a group which split from the armed Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), have control of several town and cities across Somalia.
The opposition controls the south of Somalia and has launched a series of raids on Ethiopian forces which have tried to defend the government, as well as 3,200 peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi.
At least 10,000 civilians have been killed in two years of fighting, while a million people have been forced to flee their homes.
There has also been continued wrangling between Abdullahi Yusuf, Somalia's president, and Nur Hassan Hussein, who was sacked as prime minister by Yusuf last week.
The AU and Washington have backed Hussein and have so far refused to recognise Mohamud Mohamed Guled, the new Somali prime minister, who Yusuf selected.
Sanctions imposed
Ministers gathered at a meeting of the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (Igad), which has overseen the Somali peace process, agreed on Sunday to impose immediate sanctions on Guled.
"[Igad] regrets the attempts by president Abdullahi Yusuf to unconstitutionally appoint a new prime minister that Igad does not recognize and decides to impose sanctions on him and his associates immediately," it said in a statement, without elaborating.
Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's foreign minister and chair of Igad's council of ministers, said that Yusuf could also face sanctions.
"If Yusuf is committed to continue on this path sanctions will be imposed on him too," he said.
The AU's peace and security council is due to hold talks in the Ethiopian capital on Monday to discuss Somalia.
The AU force to Somalia was originally intended to be filled by 8,000 soldiers but the bloc has since struggled to get commitments on troops from member countries.
Although Uganda and Burundi each have a battalion ready to go, they are seeking financial support and equipment so that they can be sent to Somalia.
Since it was founded in 2004, Somalia's transitional government has struggled to assert power across the Horn of Africa nation.
The country has been unstable since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.
PHOTO CAPTION
Map of Somalia and Ethiopia
Al-Jazeera
