Somalia

[…] These decisions were taken following the holistic strategic review of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) engagement in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, with the aim to strengthen the EU’s response to an evolving security context and to enhance its role as a maritime security provider.

Ethiopia and Somalia reached an agreement Wednesday to end diplomatic tensions and to begin talks by February to iron out details over a controversial maritime access deal signed by Ethiopia with the breakaway Somalia region of Somaliland.

[…] The mission will end on December 31, 2024, and it will be replaced by a new African Union Stabilization and Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).  United Nations Security Council approval will have to be given this month to meet the changeover deadline. Yet the new force is unlikely to significantly degrade the long-term threat al-Shabaab poses. al-Shabaab is stronger than generally perceived and may be in a position to achieve significant large-scale success.

The opposition leader of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi [“Irro”], has won the territory’s presidential election. … During campaigning, Irro said his party would review a controversial deal to lease landlocked Ethiopia a 20km (12-mile) section of its coastline for 50 years to set up a naval base - an agreement that has caused a diplomatic feud in the region.

A senior Somali official insisted Saturday that Ethiopia will not participate in a new African Union peacekeeping mission starting in January. The two nations remain deadlocked over a Memorandum of Understanding that Ethiopia signed with the breakaway region, Somaliland, earlier this year.

Underlining the importance of consolidating peace and security gains in Somalia, the Security Council today decided that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) shall be called the United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia and that the latter Mission shall begin formal transition of its functions from 1 November.

Somalia has declared an Ethiopian diplomat working in Mogadishu a persona non grata. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Somalia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the diplomat of engaging in "activities incompatible with his diplomatic role."

Somalia has warned the African Union against including Ethiopian troops in a peacekeeping mission, citing Addis Ababa's recent actions as a violation of its sovereignty through a controversial agreement with the breakaway region of Somaliland. The warning comes as Somalia transitions from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) to the newly planned African Union Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), a mission that Somalia insists must be led under its full control.

Work is underway in Mogadishu on mission design and funding for the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) that will replace ATMIS (AU Transition Mission in Somalia) three months from now.

James Swan, acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), briefed the Security Council in New York alongside Mohammed El-Amine Souef, Head of the AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS). The mandate for UNSOM is set to expire at the end of the month, and Somalia has proposed a two-year process to transfer tasks to national authorities and the UN Country Team. ATMIS is expected to leave Somalia at the end of the year and drawdown of forces continues.