MOCC Ends Its Meeting To View Situation In Somalia

The Military Operations Coordination Committee (MOCC) for the African Union (AU) peace support operations convened its 18th meeting in Addis Ababa.

The meeting, chaired by the AU Commissioner for Peace Security, Ambassador Smaïl Chergui, was attended by Chiefs of Defense Staff (CDS) of AMISOM Troop Contributing Countries (Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda).

Representatives of partner countries and institutions (the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the European Union and the United Nations) also participated in the meeting.

The meeting took place in the wake of the AMISOM Troops and Police Contributing Countries Summit which took place on 28 February in Djibouti.

The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange view on the situation in Somalia, as well as to provide an update on progress made on the implementation of the Outcomes of the Djibouti Summit.

The MOCC stressed the need for better and coordinated efforts in support of the upcoming elections in Somalia and further acknowledged the electoral model adopted by Somalia.

The MOCC appreciated the role played by the Troops and Police contributing Countries in support of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) towards the achievement of the political process in Somalia as well as the support provided to AMISOM by the UN and other partners. They stressed the need for concerted effort in mobilizing financial support to address the financing gap faced by AMISOM.

The meeting unanimously agreed to revise the AMISOM Concept of Operations (CONOPs) paving way for the redistribution of AMISOM force and the implementation of the next phase of offensive operations to neutralize Al Shabaab and also called for the full participation and cooperation of the Somali National Army (SNA) and the Somali Police Force (SPF) in the renewed efforts leading to the exit strategy.

The MOCC noted the progress made in generation of Air Assets for AMISOM and reiterated the urgency of finalizing the process. While expressing appreciation to the international partners for the assistance extended so far to AMISOM and the Somalia, the MOCC called for an enhanced and coordinated support.