President Yoweri Museveni has advised the United Nations Security Council against what he called a repeat of mistakes previously made in Somalia when the initial peacekeeping mission pulled out in a poorly planned approach.
The President made the comment on Friday while attending the Summit of Heads of State and Government of Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). It was held at Speke Resort Munyonyo Hotel in Kampala.
“If we do things right, chances are Somalia will be much better anytime soon. Let us avoid new mistakes,” he said.
It should be remembered that the very first UN-brokered efforts through United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM I) for ceasefire in Somalia’s civil war conflict in the early 1990s met a lot of resistance and did not yield the desired results.
The ceasefire was ignored by the two parties in the conflict; General Mohamed Farrah Aidid and “President” Ali Mahdi Muhammad, leading to intense fighting and hardships in relief operations.
Warring factions mounted severe pressure on UN to withdraw its over 25,000 troops (including US soldiers) amid killings of peacekeepers and attacks on aid ships which worsened starvation, disease and deaths among the Somalis.
Many obsevers blamed this crisis on UN’s 1993 rushed withdraw of its troops leaving the country engulfed in endless clan warfare.
Last year in August, the UN Security Council through its Resolution 2372 decided to implement a phased reduction and drawdown of AMISOM troops by the year 2020.
It is upon this background that Museveni convened the Munyoynyo summit to tackle the challenges AMISOM is faced with, largely characterized by a mismatch between the mission ideals and resources.
On Friday, President Museveni mandated the African Union Commissioner, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat to communicate to the UN Security Council the decisions and recommendations of the Kampala Summit.
According to the Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs), the timeframes and troops levels under the UN Security Council Resolution 2372 are not realistic and undermine the capacity of AMISOM to deliver its mandate and would lead to a reversal of the gains made by AMISOM.
The Somalia National Army (SNA) and AMISOM have recovered more than 80% of Somalia but despite the notable achievement, the situation remains fragile with Al Shabab and other terrorist groups in the Horn of Africa country remaining a threat to Somalia, the region and to international peace and security.
The TCCs, therefore, urged the UN Security Council to reconsider resolution 2372 on draw down of the mission, restore AMISOM to previous troop levels and stay any further reduction of AMISOM troops in order to allow recovery of territory still under control of Al Shabab and other terrorist groups.
Troop Contributing Countries to the African Union-led Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) include Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
They also called for support from partners to enhance the capacity and training of the Somali National Security Forces as well as support towards the Federal Government of Somalia so as to stabilize the political situation in the country.
The AU’s Commissioner, Mr. Faki Mahamat said that the continued presence of AMISOM in Somalia is crucial and a welcome commitment as well as an offer from partners to support AMISOM and the Federal Government of Somalia in their stabilization efforts.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed of the Federal Republic of Somalia thanked President Museveni for taking the decision to deploy troops to Somalia ten years ago and his commitment to achieve peace in Somalia.
“I believe AMISOM is succeeding but we have a long way to go. We need to collaborate and continue funding to defeat Al Shabab,” he said.
The First Vice-President of Somalia, Gaston Sindimwo; Minister of National Defence of Djibouti, Ali Hassan Bahdon; Kenya Cabinet Secretary of Defence, Ambassador Raychelle Omamo and the Ethiopian Ambassador to Uganda, Tolesa Shagi Moti, attended the Summit.
Representatives of international partners from Algeria, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, France, Sweden, Turkey, Britain, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union were at the Summit.
UN should upload resolution 2372. These Amisom countries are neo-pirates whose key agenda is con the west of its resources and consolidate themselves in power. The resources should be used to build a professional, selfsustaint somalia army. Period
Correction
The vice president of Burundi not Somalia please change that sentence.