(Adds U.S. official, analyst comment) By Tim Cocks KAMPALA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Uganda said on Friday it would complain to the United Nations over a report accusing it and nine other countries of arming and sending troops to back factions in Somalia's brewing conflict. "It's all trash," Defence Minister Chrispus Kiyonga told reporters. "Uganda will now formally protest to the U.N. about this serious, negative and false report." Kiyonga was reacting to a U.N.-commissioned report naming Uganda alongside Ethiopia as countries supplying arms, personnel and equipment to Somalia's weak interim government in its standoff with Islamists who control Mogadishu. Other countries, including Eritrea, Libya and Yemen, were accused of supporting the Islamists. Libya on Friday dismissed the report as unfounded and said on the contrary it had played a peace-broker role for years between the Somali government and its rivals. "It is unfounded and absolutely untrue and incredible to name Libya in this subject. We are surprised by such information which is baseless," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassouna Chaouch in statement. Somalia has been without a functioning government since the fall of former dictator Siad Barre in 1991 sparked the collapse of the country into a patchwork of quarrelling fiefdoms. Its 14th attempt to install a government was frustrated by Islamist forces who took control of Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords in June and captured large parts of the country. The two sides are now vying for control of the country and analysts say if war erupts it would likely spill across Somalia's borders and engulf the Horn of Africa. The U.N.-commissioned report on violations of a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia listed 10 countries and militant groups who experts say are arming, equipping and training both sides of the Somali struggle. BASED ON HEARSAY? A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the report did present "solid evidence" of arms trafficking, especially the roles of Ethiopia and Eritrea in supporting the opposing sides in Somalia. But she said a section of the report linking Syria, Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with Somali Islamists was "written in a sensational manner, and perhaps a lot of it is based on hearsay." Matt Bryden, who advises the International Crisis Group about the Horn of Africa, said 85-90 percent of the report was accurate but a few accusations were doubtful, including those involving Somali fighters in Lebanon and Hezbollah aid for the Islamists. "These few claims they've made seem at the very least over-stated, and at the worse inaccurate." A former U.S. intelligence official who monitors events in Africa said there was a Somali presence in Lebanon, "but it was very small and not significant at all in terms of fighting". He was not aware of significant Hezbollah involvement in Somalia. The report said Egypt had provided training to the Islamic Courts Union. It also said a senior retired Egyptian military officer, who is also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was aboard a vessel carrying arms and reached Somalia. An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the report was "totally untrue ... and shows a complete ignorance of the ... Egyptian policy towards Somalia." In Uganda's case the U.N. report said monitors sent a letter to Kampala regarding the allegations but received no response. "No letter of inquiry from the monitoring group has been received by any Ugandan official," Kiyonga said. He reiterated that Uganda was ready to send peacekeeping troops to Somalia under a plan by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) group of east African nations. But they have not yet been sent there, he added. If the IGAD plan -- which the Islamists vehemently oppose -- goes ahead, Ugandan troops would be in the vanguard because most other IGAD countries border Somalia and fear being drawn into a wider regional conflict. The Islamists have said any foreign troops on Somali soil will be regarded as enemies. (additional reporting by Alaa Shahine in Cairo, Salah Sarrar in Tripoli and David Morgan in Washington)
