Withdrawal of foreign troops from Somalia began in earnest this week with the Ugandan soldiers setting off for Kampala after a sojourn of almost 20 years in the war-torn country.
Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) are just one among the five-country military forces that have been in Somalia under the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).
Apart from Uganda, other Troop Contributing Countries (TCC) to the Somali mission include Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and lately Egypt who are expected to deploy an estimated 1,100 soldiers to replace the Burundian contingent that departed last year.
The withdrawal of the Ugandan soldiers follows a meeting of leaders from the TCCs in Kampala last August also attended by Somalia president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and last month’s bilateral meeting with President Yoweri Museveni.
At the two meetings, Mohamud was reportedly pushing for the troops from the TCCs to remain in Somalia to provide support to the Somali National Army and shore up security operations in the country.
Mohamud was particularly keen to have UPDF soldiers remain in Somalia to provide logistical and military support especially in securing the Aden Abdulle international airport in Mogadishu and the seat of power at Villa Somalia.
According to diplomatic sources, Somalia was pushing for the deployment of at least 2,500 UPDF soldiers for this mission on bilateral terms.
Subsequently, Mohamud dispatched a diplomatic team to the Arab states to solicit for financial support to meet this expense and help Somalia to transition from the current United Nations and United States support.
The Somalia leader was also engaging some of the troop contributing countries bilaterally to continue offering their soldiers as alternative sources of funding were sought.
The withdrawal of the Ugandan troops who were deployed on bilateral terms to Somalia seems to point at the failure of the talks between Museveni and Mohamud as well as lack of funds to oil the operation.
It should be noted that UPDF has deployed two types of soldiers in Somalia-bilaterally and those under the African Union and the UN. Those returning home are those under the bilateral arrangements.
Kenya and Ethiopia were approached to keep their soldiers under AUSSOM in Somalia and provide security in their respective sectors in Jubbaland and parts of South West state respectively. There has been no update on how far these negotiations went.
It will be interesting to see whether Kenya will fully pull out from Jubbaland given the reasons which forced the East African nation to deploy its soldiers in Somalia have yet to be met. Terror group, Al Shabaab still continues to carry its operations in the counties of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and Lamu.
Ethiopia is in a similar conundrum and has so far resisted the deployment of the Egyptian troops in any area next to its common border as the tensions over the Renaissance Dam with the north African country reach a crescendo.
The year 2027 is going to be an eventful one for Somalia as the country intends to hold parliamentary and presidential elections through universal suffrage –the first one since 1969. It is also the year when AUSSOM is expected to wind up its operations by December 31.
Somalia said the Ugandan troops that left this week are mainly those deployed under a separate agreement between the two governments.
The UPDF agreed with Somalia on the withdrawal of the troops saying the movement would be completed within days. It reiterated that all Ugandan troops in Somalia including those serving under AUSSOM are expected to leave by the end of 2027.
Uganda was the first country to deploy its soldiers in the Horn of Africa nation in August 2007 under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and actively participated in kicking out Al Shabaab forces from Mogadishu in 2011. While the terror group claimed its pull out from the capital was tactical it effectively ended the group’s direct control of the city.
Meanwhile, the Somali community in the diaspora must be overjoyed with the victory it scored in the just concluded mid-term elections in the United States.
Apart from Ilhan Omar who retained her congressional seat in Minnesota with an overwhelming majority six other Somali-Americans also emerged victorious in the Minnesota legislature. They include Omar Fateh and Zaynab Mohamed who retained their seats in Minnesota’s state Senate.
In central Minnesota, small business owner Abdi Daisane defeated his Republican opponent to emerge the St. Cloud areas first Somali American state legislator.
In the state House, Mohamud Noor, Anquam Mahamoud and Samakab Hussein also emerged victorious while in Ohio Somali-Americans Ismail Mohamed and Munira Yasin Abdullahi also retained their state House seats.
Congresswoman Omar, a progressive Democrat and a known critic of US President Donald Trump has repeatedly faced attacks from the president for her stand on immigrant issues as well as her Somali origins.
Her victory came just days after federal agents searched her Washington residence as part of a criminal investigation that linked the inquiry to her immigration history. Omar has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation an attempt by Trump to intimidate her.
As President Trump licks his wounds on the defeat the Republicans suffered in the mid-term elections, Omar must be savouring her victory.