Somalia today formally announced the exclusion of Ethiopian troops from the new peacekeeping mission due to start operations in Somalia on January 1, 2025.
Abdi Qadir, the Defense Minister of Somalia, said today that it has been decided that no Ethiopian troops will be part of AUSSM (African Union Support & Stabilization Mission), the new peacekeeping mission due to take over next year. The mandate of existing mission called ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) will expire at the end of this year. Several thousand Ethiopian troops are part of ATMIS.
The list of contributing countries to AUSSM will be announced soon, said the Defense Minister. President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh, recently visited Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti, Burundi and Rwanda. Reportedly he took leaders of these countries into confidence about the expulsion of the Ethiopian troops from peacekeeping operations in Somalia.
Ethiopia and Somalia have been locked in a dispute since January 2024 when Ethiopia signed an MoU with Somaliland. Somalia has been vehemently opposing the MoU vowing to stop its implementation. Ethiopia is hesitant to withdraw its troops from Somalia. It has been raising concerns about extremist groups taking over Mogadishu if foreign troops withdrew from Somalia.
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