Uganda begins pulling troops out of Somalia

Uganda has started withdrawing troops from Somalia as part of a “phased drawdown that ​will end an almost two-decade deployment” in the country, said Reuters.

The first 109 soldiers left at the end of last month, and all 4,500 currently deployed will permanently return to Uganda by the end of 2027.

“Things are not dire now,” said Ali Omar, ​Somalia’s foreign affairs minister. But, in a country facing the threat of Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked insurgency, a sudden withdrawal could “create problems”.

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Aid ‘thrown into doubt’

Uganda was the first African country to deploy forces to Somalia under the African Union Mission in Somalia to protect the transitional government from “attacks by Islamist militants”, said the BBC. Since then, Ugandan forces have been key players in fighting alongside the Somali National Army to “recapture strategic territory and secure key government installations”.

More recently they have also been a part of the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (Aussom), which “focused on strengthening Somalia’s security institutions and preparing its forces to take full responsibility for the country’s security”.

But the future of Aussom has been “thrown into doubt” after US authorities decided to cancel funding for a UN logistics office, which is integral to the operation, said Deutsche Welle. Washington is the coalition’s largest donor. It has “voiced frustration with a lack of progress in the fight against Al-Shabab”, and accused the Somali government of “failing to unite the country and implement political reforms”.

This coincided with last month’s closure of the UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia after more than “three decades of peace-building”. This aims to transfer responsibility to the central government and various UN agencies.

Preventing a ‘security vacuum’

African Union peacekeepers are planning to move from Barawe, 135 miles southwest of the capital Mogadishu, to replace the outgoing Ugandan troops. They will move to four bases – Sabid-Anole, Bariire, Awdheegle and Bulonagad – which are deemed “critical” to protecting Mogadishu, said The Associated Press. Failure to do so would allow Al Shabab to exploit the “security vacuum” left behind.

This turning point marks a “significant development in Somalia’s ongoing security transition”, said the Somali Guardian. Barawe is a “strategically important coastal town and port” and Shalanbood, another facility vacated by Ugandan forces, is a “key settlement along a major transport corridor” in Lower Shabelle, a region where Al Shabab has maintained a "significant presence”.

It also comes at a “politically sensitive juncture”. Political divisions and differing priorities among groups within government “risk diverting attention and resources from military operations and the broader campaign against insurgency”. This is not a “routine change of command”, it is a “test” of the Somali National Army’s “preparedness to assume a greater share of the country’s security responsibilities”.