Somalia

The Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution extending by six months until December the mandate for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), in support of the Government’s preparation for phase two and the Mission’s troop drawdown.

Ahead of this month-end (June) reduction of two thousand troops serving under the ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) a second forward operating (FOB) was handed to the Somali National Army (SNA).

Despite gains made in tackling terrorism and advancing the electoral process in Somalia, top UN officials warned the Security Council on Thursday that extra effort and funding are needed to address multiple threats, from climate shocks to spates of violence amid a looming food crisis.

Despite gains made in tackling terrorism and advancing the electoral process in Somalia, top UN officials warned the Security Council on Thursday that extra effort and funding are needed to address multiple threats, from climate shocks to spates of violence amid a looming food crisis.

[…] "The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis) has started to drawdown in compliance with (UN Resolutions) which mandate Atmis to drawdown 2,000 soldiers by the end of June 2023," it said in a statement.

[…] The number of terrorism-related incidents in the first quarter of 2023 surpassed all previous quarterly averages on record since 2016.

Fifty-four Ugandan peacekeepers died when militants besieged an African Union base in Somalia last week, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has said, in one of the worst recent attacks by al-Shabaab jihadists in the war-torn country.

Somalia has launched an overhaul of its political system, with an agreement signed on Sunday between the government and the federated states providing for the introduction of direct universal suffrage from 2024 and the transition to a presidential system.

The May 26 attack happened at Buulo Mareer, a base in Lower Shabelle, killing at least 50 soldiers, with more feared dead. … In the 15 years since it deployed to Somalia, UPDF has not suffered such a heavy casualty, which sources said includes senior commanders.

After 18 years and three multinational peace missions, Somalia is getting ready to take full control of its own security. The 1-year-old African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) is preparing to withdraw 2,000 troops from the embattled Horn of Africa nation by 30 June 2023, the first of three drawdowns in its transition plan.