...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) by the end of 2024.
The planned withdrawal was confirmed by Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale to the Senate.
"The last troops are expected to leave Somalia on 31 December 2024 as per the AU and UN Security Council resolution and plan," Duale said.
Duale’s confirmation comes despite a recent delay to the scheduled drawdown, following a request by Somalia to pause the drawdown of African Union peacekeepers for three months.
There are more than 4,000 Kenyan troops deployed in Somalia under ATMIS, alongside troops from Uganda, Æthiopia, Burundi and Djibouti.
WHAT IS ATMIS?
The AU’s Transitional Mission took over from the AU’s Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in April 2022.
A United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
-mandated mission, AMISOM began in 2007 as a peacekeeping force in the country, as Somalia — and the broader region — battled against the al-Qaeda affiliated group al-Shabaab
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord....
The mission was also eventually mandated to help protect Somalia’s transitional government, support the country’s electoral process and assist in delivering humanitarian aid..
By mid-2017 the world’s largest peacekeeping operation, the mission helped to push back against al-Shabaab, paving the way for an eventual drawdown.
In April 2022, the AU renamed the mission ATMIS and, while its mandate has been largely the same as its predecessor’s, the mission's ultimate goal is to conclude operations in Somalia by the end of 2024 and hand over the reins to the Somali government.
However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
while al-Shabaab has been forced into retreat in parts of the country and international bodies have lauded the Somali government’s efforts against them, attacks by the Islamist insurgency are still all too frequent and continue to spill over the border into Kenya.