ADDIS ABABA – The African Union was studying a request from Somalia Thursday to slow down the withdrawal of its forces deployed in the country against Islamist militants, officials from the body said.
Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group, has been waging a deadly insurgency against the fragile central government in Somalia for more than 17 years.
UN resolutions called for forces in the African Union peacekeeping mission, known as ATMIS, to be reduced to zero by December 31 through several withdrawal phases, handing over security to the Somali army and police.
The third and penultimate phase was to see the departure of 4,000 soldiers by the end of June.
However, an AU official who requested anonymity told AFP that in May, the Somali government asked the organisation’s Peace and Security Council (PSC) to extend the presence of half of the troops by three months.
The government wants only 2,000 men to leave in June and the other 2,000 in September, the official said, adding that Mogadishu had put forward the need to carry out an “offensive operation”.
At present, 13,500 ATMIS soldiers are deployed in Somalia.
Meeting on Thursday in Addis Ababa, the PSC was expected to give a favourable response, said the source.
Source: AFP
