AU in Somalia distances itself from comments on US magazine

Senior Amisom soldier quoted by Foreign Policy likened Somalia’s recovery process to ‘cleaning a pig’

The African Union force in Somalia, Amisom has distanced itself from comments attributed to its senior military personnel expressing frustrations at the pace of rebuilding the Somali National Army.

In a series of tweets Wednesday, Amisom said the comments by the Ugandan colonel serving under Amisom as quoted by the respected US magazine Foreign Policy did not reflect the views of the continental mission.

“The commentary and statements made by the people quoted in the story do not in any way reflect the views and position of AMISOM,” Amisom said.

The Mission added it was committed to executing its role and mandate in Somalia.

“AMISOM totally disassociates itself from this publication in its entirety. AMISOM remains committed to supporting the government of Somalia in rebuilding national security institutions and commends the progress made so far.”

In the article published Tuesday, sources quoted described the efforts towards rebuilding the Somali National Army a non-starter.

“Somalia is like cleaning a pig,” one Ugandan AMISOM colonel told Foreign Policy. “You clean it, and it gets dirty,” the article read in part.

Somalia, the Colonel said was like Afghanistan only experiencing relative stability thanks to presence of international forces. “If the coalition in Afghanistan left, he argued, the Taliban would easily take the country back. The same was true for Somalia.”

But in its response, Amisom said it would continue its work as mandated.

“AMISOM will continue to execute its mandate in line with the Communique of the 782 Meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council of 27th June 2018 and the UN Security Council Resolution 2431 of 30th July 2018.”