Regional defense ministers discuss drawdown of AU troops in Somalia
An AU meeting in Uganda attended by regional defense ministers and the Somali and Ugandan heads of state is expected to come with defined modalities in which troops from contributing countries in the African Union Transition Mission In Somalia will draw down significantly.
ATMIS whose mandate was expected to end in December 2024, is expected to shed off 2000 troops beginning June 2023 after an initial 2022 date was extended by the UNSC.
Delegates meeting in Kampala are expected to come up with the best plans on how to smoothly implement the ATMIS troop drawdown, with the first phase of the drawdown scheduled for the end of June 2023 under revised timelines.
Ambassador Julius Joshua Kivuna, who heads the Regional Peace and Security Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while in his opening remarks at the meeting noted that, “under the resolution 2670 (2022), the UN Security Council unanimously endorsed the African Union commitment to adopt a strategic, gradual, sector-by-sector approach to the troop drawdown and maintain the ATMIS exit date of 31 December 2024,”
Somalia whose president is also attending the Uganda meeting, has made major steps in improving its internal security situation with President Hassan Sheikh declaring an all-out war against the terror group al Shabab.
The Somali head of state in a recent meeting with regional neighbours had underscored the federal gov’t’s primary goal of rebuilding security, a critical component for Somalia’s prosperity in all areas as well as regional and international stability.
“Our development plans for now, and onwards will be based on that mission. We have a very unique drive on improving Somalia, with a five-year plan which includes securing the country in order to achieve developmental goals,” said the President as he addressed a gathering in honour of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres when he visited Somalia in early April.
The terror threat posed by Al Shabab has on many occasions threatened to renegade the major and minor gains the Horn of Africa state has made over time with attacks in the Capital Mogadishu as well as in other regions.
Government forces have been gaining ground against the militants since August after launching the most significant Somali-led campaign against al-Shabaab since the jihadis began their terror campaign 15 years ago.
Territorial gains, mostly in central Somalia, have been backed by a financial crackdown that has led to the freezing of hundreds of bank and mobile money accounts, holding a “couple of million dollars” combined, and a drive to convince Somali clerics to condemn al-Shabaab as “anti-Islamic”.
The Holy month of Ramadan which ran between March and April 2023 received very few reports of Al Shabab attacks in that country, as compared to other years when the terror group executed attacks on civilian and military installations in the month of prayer, fasting and self-reflection.
In the 2020 fasting season the group had threatened to execute attacks in that country over the fasting period, as it had done in the years before. In 2014, Al Shabab militants, who threatened to step up attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, claimed responsibility and stated that they were behind a blast that killed two people near the Somali parliament building.
“This is our second attack against the parliament building and we shall continue it,” said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s spokesman for military operations.
As the country builds on its capacity to protect its citizens from the harm that terror threat poses, leaders from the region including Somalia will deliberate further on the gains and misses by the African Union forces, under ATMIS as well as the next steps for the mission that was proceed by the AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA {AMISOM} whose mission mandate ended in March 2022, after a 15-year run.
At the opening session, the Ugandan head of delegation Ambassador Kivuna reiterated the importance of the meeting to evaluate the performance of ATMIS and to facilitate preparations for the phased handover of security responsibilities to the Somali Security Forces.
“The meeting provides a crucial platform for us to be able to deliberate on pertinent issues about ATMIS, and most importantly to evaluate the achievements made in the execution of the ATMIS mandate,” he added.
This week’s meeting precedes subsequent meetings to be held by Permanent Secretaries and Chiefs of Defense Forces as well as Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense for ATMIS Troop Contributing Countries.
The recommendations from the meetings will feed into the ATMIS Head of State Summit to be held this Thursday, April 27th in Uganda.
While policymakers continue the deliberations on the future of securing Somalia, the (ATMIS), Deputy Force Commander in charge of Support and Logistics, Maj. Gen. Peter Kimani Muteti, on Tuesday, visited troops in Baidoa, Southwest State, to assess their welfare and the ongoing military operations in the region.
The Deputy Force Commander hailed the Ethiopian troops for advancing the mission’s mandate and maintaining peace and security in the region by conducting operations against the Al-Shabaab, urging them to remain steadfast in the implementation of the mission’s mandate.
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