Africa
Amisom to extend stay in Somalia
The troops serving under the AMISOM have been granted a mandate to continue staying in the country, days after they began drawing back to their barracks to return back to their respective countries.
The existence of African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) troops was extended by two weeks from end of February to March 14 as the country’s leaders pushed for a political pact. But the situation in Somalia got tensed when President Mohamed Farmaajo attempted to extend his term by two years.
Farmaajo has since reversed that decision after Somalia senators voted on Saturday to overturn the two-year presidential term extension they had initially approved. The decision resulted to chaos after heavily armed troops for and against the president clashed.
The situation led to fears that the crisis could lead to a power vacuum that the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants could use to split the country along clan lines and attack each other. Amisom had to stay and even the agreement reached with the prime minister over the violence and the president’s term could not send AU forces out of Somalia.
Former Kenyan Defense Secretary Raychelle Omamo when she made a surprise visit to KDF troops in Somalia [p/courtesy]
The decision was arrived at during the meeting between 15-member AU Peace and the Security Council held on Tuesday. ”At today’s AUPSC meeting , the Council reached a consensus to extend the mandate of Amisom until 31st Dec 2021,” the statement reads.
The AU Council comprises of 15 members who are elected for a three year term on rotational basis. Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Algeria and Ghana are some of the current members. It is AU’s standing decision making organ for prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
Amisom troops have been in Somalia since to 2007 when it was formed but its mandate has always been extended by a year after it failed to stabilize the governments of Somalia.
Kenyan Defense Forces also set their boots in the country in October 2011 under the ‘Operation Linda Nchi’ with an aim to exit in March 2012 but are still in the war-torn country. KDF extended their stay in Somalia beyond 2012 after it’s forces joined the AMISOM to boost efforts to eliminate the Al Shabaab insurgents.
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram
High Court to Set the Record Straight in Long-Running Bia Tosha Petition
Kenya’s betting tax reform and why it matters
KETRACO CEO Advert Marred By Controversies As Fears Grow That Kipkemoi Kibias Is A Predetermined Candidate
I Will Bribe Every Judge in Town- MP Jack Wamboka
KNH ON THE BRINK: How Corruption, Revenue Plunder and State Neglect Are Destroying Kenya’s Flagship Hospital
Receivers In TransCentury Sh6B KRA Tax Arrears Are Biased And Must Be Removed, COFEK Claims
The Man Behind the Badge: How Prof. Erastus Kanga Turned Kenya’s Premier Wildlife Agency into a Theatre of Corruption, Fear and Impunity
City Lawyer Conrad Maloba Arrested Over Fake Ambulance Fraud
THE FIXER IN THE FILE ROOM: How Parliamentary Health Committee Clerk Adan Gindicha Cleared Mediheal Hospital of Organ Harvesting Claims Despite Mounting Evidence
Nairobi Freezes Binance Accounts in Sweeping Anti-Fraud Crackdown as Global Scandal Record Haunts World’s Largest Crypto Exchange
Forged Legacy: How Kaplan and Stratton’s Peter Gachuhi Is Accused of Faking a Top AG’s Will as State Claims Damning Evidence
The Lawyer at the Centre of Kenya’s State Machine: Eric Gumbo, the AG’s Bypassed Office, and the Half-Billion-Shilling Question
Inside Details Of Sh78 Billion Fraud in KPC’s Mombasa-Nairobi Line 5 Pipeline Project That Has Continued To Bleed The Country
Sold And Abandoned: How Diageo and Asahi Are Locking Kenya’s EABL Minority Shareholders Out Of East Africa’s Biggest Corporate Heist
Poison at the Pump: How Kenya’s Fuel Marking System May Be Exposing Millions to Cancer-Causing Chemicals
How Firm Linked To Mombasa Tycoon Jaffer Was Allowed To Import Fuel At Bloated Price And Set To Make Billions In Profits From Iranian War Crisis In Kenya
THE ZAKHEM-ECOBANK MACHINE: How Kenya’s Courts Were Weaponised to Drain a State Corporation of Over KES 78 Billion
The Teflon Company: How Gulf Energy’s Insiders Built Billions on Kenya’s Fuel, and Walked Away Clean
Kenyan Motorists Stare At Possible Engine Damage And Heavy Losses As Report Confirms Substandard Fuel In Circulation
Mombasa Lawyer Exposed In Sh600 Million Alleged Double-Dealing Diani Property Transaction
-
Business1 week agoNairobi Freezes Binance Accounts in Sweeping Anti-Fraud Crackdown as Global Scandal Record Haunts World’s Largest Crypto Exchange
-
Investigations1 week agoEXCLUSIVE: Odibets Bought Stolen Data From Millions Of Kenyans
-
Business2 weeks agoTHE FUEL CABAL: How Mohamed Jaffer, a KPC Insider, and a Ministry Official Are Alleged to Have Manufactured Kenya’s Worst Petroleum Crisis in Three Years, While Kenyans Burned
-
Investigations7 days agoTHE FIXER IN THE FILE ROOM: How Parliamentary Health Committee Clerk Adan Gindicha Cleared Mediheal Hospital of Organ Harvesting Claims Despite Mounting Evidence
-
Investigations1 week agoTHE BRAZEN RETURN: Triton Thief Yagnesh Devani, Who Pillaged Kenya of Sh7.6 Billion and Fled, Now Asks the Same Courts He Escaped to Restore His Stolen Wealth
-
Investigations6 days agoThe Man Behind the Badge: How Prof. Erastus Kanga Turned Kenya’s Premier Wildlife Agency into a Theatre of Corruption, Fear and Impunity
-
Business2 weeks agoSugar Empire in the Dock: How Kibos’s Mombasa Refinery Landed 1,481 Phantom Tonnes at the Port — and Why Nine Government Agencies Are Now Watching Its Every Move
-
Investigations6 days agoKNH ON THE BRINK: How Corruption, Revenue Plunder and State Neglect Are Destroying Kenya’s Flagship Hospital