MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – African Union troops in Somalia is expected to start liberating regions that are still held by al Shabaab after the mission approved a new plan of operations ahead of its exit in 2021.
The document will have to be approved by the AU and senior defence officials of troop-contributing countries — Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Djibouti — before it is implemented.
The new plan dubbed the Concept of Operations (ConOps) allows joint forces from Somalia and AMISOM to launch major offensives in Southern regions.
According to the ConOps, the operations will start in Middle Jubba region in early next year, and the plan will guide AMISOM operations until 2021.
Al-Shabaab fighters are controlling parts of the region despite the formation of a regional state for Lower, Middle Jubba and Gedo regions.
The move is on the heel of the African Union request to reduce troops from Burundi.
This week, AU asked the government of Burundi to draw down its troops in Somalia by the end of February next year.
Burundi is a leading contributor of troops in the AMISOM with 5,432 soldiers.
It was the second country to deploy its troops to Somalia in December 2007.
Last year, the Burundian government threatened to withdraw its troops from Somalia following the failure to pay Burundian peacekeepers’ salaries for 12 months.
The salary arrears issue was only solved following the visit of Commissioner for Peace and Security for the African Union (AU) Smail Chergui in the same year to Burundi.
AMISOM has more than 22,000 soldiers and police from six African countries, deployed in Somalia to protect the federal government and fight the armed group al-Shabaab.
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