By ATHMAN AMRAN

The command structure of the African Mission in Somalia (Amisom), which is under Major General Fredrick Mugisha of Uganda, is set to change.

Kenya Defence Forces spokesperson Col Cyrus Oguna said a meeting in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on Friday was expected to decide which country will occupy which position following the full integration of Kenyan forces into Amisom.

The meeting is also expected to decide when and how the Al Shabaab stronghold of Kismayu will be attacked.

KDF spokesman Col Cyrus Oguna and acting Director of Public Communication Mary Ombara during a media briefing at the Ministry of Information offices, Nairobi, on Saturday. [PHOTO: MOSES OMUSULA]

"The details of the meeting are not yet out but will be known soon. However, Kismayu will continue to be Amisom’s key target. As to when this will happen is no longer KDF’s decision. It will now be the decision of Amisom," Oguna said during a press briefing at the Teleposta Plaza in Nairobi, on Saturday.

Kenya is expected to get a position in the top command, which include that of force commander, two positions of deputy force commander and commander in charge of operations.

Uganda’s Maj-Gen Mugisha has been the commander from June 15, last year, having taken over from three other Ugandans who have held the position since February 14, 2007.

The current deputy commander is Major-General Cyprien Hakiza from Rwanda who took over from another Rwandese from September 2009. The spokesperson has been Lt-Col Paddy Akunda of Uganda, who took over the position for the second time from May last year.

Oguna also hinted that the next briefing on the war in Somalia would be different and will no longer be a KDF affair, as the Addis Ababa meeting would determine the command structure of Amisom, whose current mandate ends on October 31.

Mandate

This would now end fears that the KDF are an occupying force, Oguna said.

"Even if we are there for three years it will not be occupation," he said, adding that the forces would be carrying out the mandate of the African Union and the UN Security Council resolution under Amisom, whose mandate has been expanded from that of peacekeeping to peace enforcement that would engage Al Shabaab more directly.

At the same time the forces killed three Al Shabaab fighters on March 5 during an attack at Gerile in the Northern Sector where five AK 47 rifles and one communication equipment were recovered.

On Friday the forces arrested four Al Shabaab militants during a cordon and search in Fafadun. Nine AK 47 rifles, three PKA rifles and magazines were recovered.

On Thursday six Al Shabaab fighters surrendered during a raid in Gerile and six AK 47 rifles and three PKA rifles were recovered. And on March 6 several Al Shabaab militants were killed, four technicals and a weapons depot were destroyed during an air strike at Haye.

Two Al Shabaab fighters were killed during a raid at Dif on March 7, six others were killed during an ambush at Agbat, south of Afmadow on March 8 and four were killed in the South on March 5 when their skip was sunk by maritime forces.

Nine Al Shabaab militants were killed on March 6 in Marla during an infighting following disagreement between local Al Shabaab militants and foreign ones. This was as a result of the arrest of two key leaders, a German known as Salahuddin and Al Misri, one of the key trainers, Oguna said.

Meanwhile, KDF have since liberated 95,000sqkm – twice the size of Rwanda and Burundi – from Al Shabaab control in Somalia.

Oguna said the large swathes had been freed from the grip of Al Shabaab since October when Operation Linda Nchi began.

KDF has liberated El Afe Fafadun, Busar, Inda El, Damasa in the Northern Sector while in the Central sector Dobley, Tabda, Bilisqokani, Hayo, Qatar, Delbio and Southern Sector Ras Kamboni Burqabo and Kulbio.