Djibouti Hails AUSSOM for Promoting Somalia’s Peace and Stability

GOOBJOOG NEWS | BELETWEYNE: Djibouti has praised the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) for its role in helping to restore peace and stability in the country, during a visit by its foreign minister to troops stationed in the central town of Beletweyne.

Foreign Affairs Minister Abdoulkader Omar, on his first official visit to Somalia, met Djiboutian peacekeepers deployed under AUSSOM in Sector Four, as well as local Hirshabelle State officials and mission leaders. Djibouti is one of five troop-contributing countries to AUSSOM, alongside Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya and Uganda.

“We visited Djiboutian troops to see firsthand the good work the peacekeepers are doing to secure the population,” Omar said, pledging Djibouti’s continued support for Somalia’s stabilisation process.

AUSSOM Deputy Head of Mission Mouktar Osman Karie commended Djiboutian forces for their contribution, noting Djibouti’s close historical and cultural ties with Somalia.

Local officials, including Hirshabelle State’s Interior Minister Abdirahman Dahir Gure, said talks with the delegation focused on humanitarian concerns, security and cooperation in the fight against al Shabaab.

Earlier in Mogadishu, Omar met AUSSOM leaders and inspected a guard of honour mounted by Ugandan troops before receiving briefings on the mission’s operations.