Somalia AU mission faces US funding cutoff

Countries contributing troops to the African Union mission in Somalia were due to discuss its future in Uganda on Friday after the United States announced it would end critical funding and political support.

The African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, known as AUSSOM, supports the Somali army with about 12,000 troops. Somalia has fought Al-Shabaab insurgents for about two decades, but the group still controls large areas.

Washington has announced it will end payments to the UN Support Office in Somalia at the end of this year. UNSOS provides logistics for the AU mission, including troop rotation, food, fuel and medical equipment. The United States also said it would oppose any further UN logistical support to AUSSOM.

In a July 1 letter, Washington accused Somalia’s government of a lack of progress against Al-Shabaab and in addressing security and governance challenges.

Defence ministers from Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia said Thursday there was a need for an “orderly, coordinated and phased exit” of the AU mission to hand over to Somali forces. They called on the UN Security Council to mandate an interim body to support the mission for up to two years.

Analysts warned that the mission’s future was in doubt without a reversal of the US decision. Solomon Dersso, head of the Amani Africa think tank, said he doubted there was any viable way to sustain the mission without continued US support for UNSOS.

Somalia is also facing a political crisis. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud changed the constitution earlier this year, extending his term by a year after it expired on May 15. Opposition parties and regional governments rejected the changes, and violent clashes followed in several parts of the country, including Mogadishu.