Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has applauded the return of US troops to the country to help fight a deadly insurgency, reported Reuters. He said delivering security also depends on reconciliation with other Somali leaders.
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden approved the redeployment of US soldiers in Somalia to help train, equip, and support the military’s elite Danab Special Forces fighting the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants. President Donald Trump had withdrawn the forces back in December 2020.
“We are very much grateful for President Biden to send back some of the forces … they always have been playing a role a role in the war against al Shabaab,” Mohamud told Reuters, adding that he wanted US support to continue.
Somalia’s legislators selected Mohamud as president this month – the country has not held one-person-one-vote elections since the civil war erupted in 1991.
The Al Shabaab militant group has killed tens of thousands of Somalis in bombings in Mogadishu and elsewhere as it seeks to topple the government. The group has also killed a large number of civilians in neighboring countries in attacks on hotels, universities, restaurants, and shopping malls. The insurgents still control swathes of the country but African Union peacekeeping forces are due to leave in three years.
Earlier this month, al Shabaab overran an AU peacekeeping base in Somalia, killing at least 10 Burundian peacekeepers. It was the first such attack on a peacekeeping base since the AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) replaced the previous AMISOM peacekeeping force last month.
ATMIS, which consists of troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, is tasked with helping Somalia’s military forces take primary responsibility for security in a country that has been mired in conflict since 1991.
Under a UN resolution approving its creation, ATMIS is projected to gradually reduce staffing levels from nearly 20,000 soldiers, police, and civilians to zero by the end of 2024.
