AU, Somalia sign agreement on Mission assistance beyond 2021

Following two days of closed-door meetings in Mogadishu, the African Union and the Federal Government of Somalia signed an agreement on the likely configuration and proposed mandate of the African Union’s support to Somalia beyond December, 2021.
“The mandate of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) comes to an end this year (2021). We have been discussing what will replace AMISOM come January 2022,” said Fiona Lortan, the Acting Director of Conflict Management at the Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, who led the AU and AMISOM team at the negotiations.
“We know that there is still a need for some sort of security presence from the African Union to assist the Somalia government in the next few years while it builds up its forces. And so, we have been discussing what the new mission should look like, and what the mandate of the new mission will be,” Lortan added.