East Africa: AMISOM To Exit Somalia In 2016, Say AU

By Staff Writer 

African Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeepers operated by the African Union (AU) would be exiting Somalia in 2016, based on the latest assessment by stakeholders said Lydia Wanyoto during the international humanitarian law training on Wednesday August 20, at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort hotel.

Wanyoto, acting Special Envoy of the African Union to Somalia Eng. Sheik Sayid Ahmed Dahir, Somalia’s ambassador to Uganda said the roadmap of 2016 would be adhered to and that by that time the federal government would have developed capacity to independently run the affairs of the war-torn country.

Ahmed said that Somalia is on the right path and thanked East African governments for ensuring that the conflict is subdued and country stabilized.

“Somalia will have no more conflict in the coming years; and with the help our friendly countries, we are now ready to take full control. We welcome the capacity building trainings that our partners are conducting and I urge our countrymen to enforce what they have studied for the betterment of our country,” he said.

Wanyoto also said the process of Somalia becoming autonomous is almost achievable and that the only roadblock is the complete “flush out of Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab militia group” from the sea.

“Going by the current projections, we are almost certain that we shall see take off in 2016 and according to our roadmap, AMISOM would be exiting Somalia in 2016. The target is achievable. So, as we clean out Al-Shabaab, we have the mandate to build capacity and this is a process we have embarked on,” she said.

In 2013, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of AMISOM to 2016.

In preparation to leave Somalia in 2016, she said that AMISOM has embarked on the third phase of training the national army with modern professional army strategies, especially changing their mindset from conflict-occupied to be more mindful of the human rights.

These efforts are part of preparations for the 2016 general elections in Somalia. Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Ethiopia are the AMISOM troop contributing countries.

Somalia fell into a state of anarchy, after the ouster of the then dictator, president Said Barre in 1991 pitting clans against each other, leading to emergence of warlords and militia groups such as Al-Shabaab who have committed atrocities against human rights against the people of Somalia in the name of instituting Sharia Law and carried terrorism acts in the neighboring countries of Kenya and Uganda.