Somalia prepares to fill security vacuum as AU troops exit

ATMIS is tasked with consolidating gains made in the security and war on Al-Shabaab by AMISOM since their arrival in 2007 and supporting Somali Transitional Plan [STP].

News Keydmedia Online
23 February 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia – After 15 years of self-sacrificing mission, AU troops in Somalia are in the final stage of their preparation for pull-out as the country’s crisis is far from the end.

During weeks of talks in Mogadishu last month, the Somali government and top AU officials agreed to form AU Transitional Mission to Somalia [ATMIS] to replace AMISOM forces.

ATMIS is tasked with consolidating gains made in the security and war on Al-Shabaab by AMISOM since their arrival in 2007 and supporting Somali Transitional Plan [STP].

Hassan Mohamed, the ministry of defense’s director-general said ATMIS which is a Somali-led and Somali-owned mission awaits approval from the UN security council in March of this year.

During the ATMIS’s mission, Somalia will get ready for taking over the full security responsibility from AMISOM which failed to liberate the country from Al-Shabaab in 15 years.

Mohamed stated that the EU will fund ATMIS as long as Somalia is in the process of rebuilding a competent and strong national army with the support of Turkey and the US.

“AMTIS mission could take three years if the SNA rebuilding efforts don’t end in a scheduled year. It all depends on the situation of the ground and foreign aid,” he added.

Somalia asked the UN security council to lift the arms embargo imposed in 1992 to import sophisticated weapons for the armed forces fighting the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab.

KEYDMEDIA ONLINE