Somalia's Next Peacekeeping Mission: Will It Change Anything?

For 15 years, African soldiers have rotated through Somalia as part of a 20,000-strong force mandated by the United Nations to protect the fragile central government from an Islamist insurgency

Nairobi, April 1 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Apr, 2022 ) :For 15 years, African soldiers have rotated through Somalia as part of a 20,000-strong force mandated by the United Nations to protect the fragile central government from an Islamist insurgency.

But the mission is winding up, with a transitional force given less than two years to hand over security responsibilities to Somalia's national army and withdraw from the troubled country. Will it work? - What is AMISOM? - Created in 2007 by the UN Security Council, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was tasked with fighting the Al-Shabaab militants bent on overthrowing the foreign-backed government in Mogadishu.

Drawn from across Africa, the mission drove Al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu in 2011, creating enough stability for government and Federal agencies to take shape, and two rounds of elections to be held.

"AMISOM played a part in securing and providing a conducive environment for politics and for economic activity," said Samira Gaid, executive director of the Hiraal Institute, a Somalia-based security think tank.

But after the early gains, the mission has mainly been on the defensive.

"There was an opportunity in 2014, 2015, to sustain the offensive and have the upper hand against Al-Shabaab... That opportunity was not taken," Gaid said.

Unable to rely on Somalia's poorly trained and equipped national army, AMISOM resorted to holding its positions as Al-Shabaab gained ground in rural areas and regrouped to launch deadly attacks across the country.