MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somali government is planning to kick out Ethiopian troops fighting Al-Shabaab in several regions once the mandate of the African Union Transition Mission (ATMIS) ends by December, national security advisor Hussein Sheikh Ali said on Friday.
Mogadishu is currently negotiating that at least 10,000 troops from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti remain in the country until January 2026, outstaying their mandate which ends in December 2024, he added.
The Somali official did not say who will fund the operations of the regional force amid increasing donor fatigue and whether it will operate under a new peacekeeping mandate.
Kenya’s President William Ruto said this week that “terrorists will take over Somalia” after the exit of African Union troops, saying that the scheduled pullout does not reflect on the security situation in the country were Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda-affiliate still enjoys control of vast swathes of territory in the southern and central regions. More
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Somali officials had previously echoed similar concerns despite claims by the federal government in Mogadishu that it would “eliminate” terrorists before the scheduled ATMIS pullout.
Ethiopia and Kenya have thousands of troops in Somalia who are not part of ATMIS and are manning dozens of key bases. Somali government has yet to give details about who will take over the security responsibility of areas vacated by Ethiopian forces.
Souring relations between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa are fueling Somali government’s push to expel the Ethiopian forces who have been maintaining presence in Somalia since the collapse of the military regime of Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.
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