Second Kenyan contingent to operate in Somalia

KBC|NAIROBI: Pre-deployment training continues in earnest for Kenya Defence Forces troops preparing to serve under the African Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

This will be the second Kenyan contingent to operate in Somalia on the ATMIS mandate.

The training, which commenced in August, empowers the contingent with the requisite knowledge and skills for the peace support operation.

It also provides an appreciation of current stabilization, and humanitarian efforts, in addition to garnering awareness of the state of operations and security.

The Brigade Commander, Brigadier William Kamoiro while speaking to Strategic Communications said, “We are currently going through a very vigorous training regime to be able to cope with the conditions in Somalia. The morale is high and we are very receptive to the training. We continue to exercise the integration of various capabilities and to conduct simulation exercises, both of which are requisites to validate the training objectives. It is also a measure of our mission readiness.”

KDF had previously operated in Somalia under AMISOM alongside Somalia Security Forces for more than a decade in an effort to degrade Al Shabaab militants and foster peace and security in the country.

The peacekeeping mission was renamed ATMIS in 2022.

It is a Somali-led phased mission designed to build the capacity of the Somali Security Forces, diminish, and subsequently eliminate Al Shabaab activities, and hand over all primary security responsibility to Somalia forces in 2024.