AU at odds with UN over Amisom draw-down in Somalia

By T. Roble

African countries contributing troops to the multinational force, Amisom in Somalia have fought back a UN resolution which called for draw-down of the forces starting last December warning such a move could adversely affect the mission’s operation and erode gains made thus far.

Leaders meeting in Kampala, Uganda Friday said the UN Security Council Resolution 2372(2017) was ‘not realistic and would lead to a reversal of gains made by AMISOM over the years to defeat the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab.

“A premature withdrawal is likely to undermine the gains made over the last decade, at a great human and financial cost,” African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said. “Central to this will be predictable financing for AMISOM that will make it possible for the Somali national security forces to take over primary security responsibility from AMISOM.”

Coming in the wake of heightened Al-Shabaab attacks in Mogadishu and Friday’s ambush on Amisom convoy which killed at least three Burundi soldiers under Amisom in Middle Shabelle region, the meeting sought to explore means of finding predictable funding for Amisom and international support for the Somali National Army.

The UN Security Council last July approved a phased withdrawal of Amisom forces from Somalia with 2,000 forces expected to leave Somalia by 30 October 2018. According to the Resolution, Amisom will be made up of 20,626 uniformed personnel by end of this year. The UNSC maintained it would not be considering deploying a UN force in Somalia noting the conditions were not appropriate but, ‘requested the Secretary-General to keep the benchmarks for deployment under continuous review’.

But Amisom and Troops Contributing Countries have variously indicated that lack of predictable funding and force enablers and multipliers have become major impediments to actualizing a meaningful draw-down. The EU cut its stipend support to Amisom soldiers by 20% last February.

President Farmaajo told the meeting Friday joint collaboration between AMISOM and the Somali National Army, for over a decade, to fight Al-Shabaab, have registered success in dislodging the group from areas it previously controlled.

“I believe we have a long way to go. We need to put together a sound strategy in order to effectively fight against Al-Shabaab and defeat them. And I believe they are weak,” he said.

“I believe if we continue to collaborate with the help of EU (European Union) and the international community to continue funding this operation, we will be able to defeat Al-Shabaab in a very short order,” President Farmaajo added.