Thursday May 4, 2023
UPDF troops deployed to ATMIS honoured with medals. CREDIT: ATMIS
Plans to ensure the first phase of troop drawdown by ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) does not “negate” security gains made to date are underway by the mission’s six troop contributing countries (TCCs).
Senior representatives of the six countries met in Kampala late last month where Ugandan Foreign Affairs Minister Odongo Abubakhar told those present it was critical to plan for “a successful exit of AU (African Union) troops”.
Other countries at the meeting were Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
He said further, according to an ATMIS statement, it is “prudent to effect joint assessment of the security situation, planning and co-ordination as TCCs to execute draw down timelines and for the government of Somalia to ensure force generation and integration to assume security responsibilities”.
Head of the EU (European Union) delegation to Uganda Jan Sadek said developing capability of the Somali Security Forces was critical to ensuring the long term security of Somalia and the region.
“Strengthening the capacity of the Somali Security Forces and governance actors to take over responsibility for protecting the people must remain a key objective of all Somalia’s partners. The only exit strategy for ATMIS is thus to support the Somali security sector,” Sadek is reported as saying.