Somalia strikes deal with AU over future of AMISOM

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Federal Government of Somalia and the African Union have reportedly reached an agreement over the future of the African Union Mission Forces in Somalia [AMISOM] just two months before the expiry of the forces' mandate in the Horn of Africa nation.

Somalia team confirmed fruitful negotiations on reconfiguring AMISOM. AU said talks focused on the mandate, strategic end state, key objectives, composition, and benchmarks. The two sides have been holding talks in Addis Ababa.

In the next 33 months, the forces currently working in Somalia will be reconfigured and partner with the United Nations. According to documents being circulated, the new AU mission will transition from AMISOM to ATMIS [AU Transitional Mission to Somalia].

ATMIS will retain gains made since 2007 but will support objectives and priorities of the Somali Transition Plan. ATMIS will conduct with SNA joint, targeted operations to degrade and “other armed opposition groups.” ATMIS will consist of military, police, and civilian components, the document revealed.

Further, the documents noted, ATMIS will be headed by a special representative to be appointed by AU chairperson Moussa Faki. New ATMIS force commander will come from the largest contributing country [now it rotates]. Current troop, police-contributing countries to form the basis of ATMIS with possibility for expansion

Troops Contributing countries must agree their troops will come under the full operational command of the force commander. Under this arrangement, AU is set to support the federal government meets the required conditions for lifting the arms embargo. ATMIS sector boundaries to be aligned with Somali National Army sector boundaries with a focus on operational objectives.

The Somali government has set a new deadline for SNA Force to provide internal security and assume security responsibilities from ATMIS by Dec 31, 2023, per the documents. The transfer will be gradual, conditions-based, dependent on tangible progress made by the government in the generation of capacity to takeover FOBs.

The transition from AMISOM to ATMIS is set to take the first 9 months; followed by the conduct of joint decisive operations for another 9 months, and a third 9 months period for decisive simultaneous operations against Shabaab; and finally exit of ATMIS in the last 7 months of the 33 months mission

March 2022 marks 15 years since AMISOM has been operational in Somalia. If/when this new 33-months-long mission ends, AMISOM/ATMIS will have been in Somalia for about 18 years, the document suggests.

"The outcomes are underwhelming and seem to me like it was a renaming exercise. Hopefully, practicalities/ modalities will be unearthed at future technical meetings," said Samira Gaid, a senior security analyst on the Horn of Africa matters.

GAROWE ONLINE