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AMISOM Undertakes New Role in Somalia

by Abdulaziz Billow December 03, 2014

The UN-sanctioned military mission to Somalia, known as AMISOM, is taking on a new role after freeing much of the country from al-Shabab control.

New operating guidelines will allow troops to re-open key supply routes once blockaded by militants in south central Somalia, where more freedom of movement is needed to help alleviate the impact of drought and food insecurity.

AMISOM troops will now deliver aid to these areas following an agreement reached between the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM).

The new role for the AU troops comes none too soon.

More than one million Somalis are believed to be at risk of starvation, with the UN estimating three million more are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

"I'm so proud of what AMISOM has done, (what) our men, our boys I will call them, have done on the ground,' said Maman Sidikou, head of Mission for the African Union forces in Somalia.

'But we also want the guidelines to also show that they are not people just carrying arms, they are also people. Soldiers, but actors opening the way for the populations of south central Somalia to be accessing their God given right to food, to health, to education."

The new rules aim to foster constructive civil-military relations between AMISOM and humanitarian groups, operating in the same areas in Somalia.

AMISOM troops will now work on opening up key supply routes and towns cut-off for years by al-Shabab.

Phillipe Lazzarini, the deputy UN envoy to Somalia and the country's resident humanitarian coordinator, said preventing another famine depends on being able to reach those in need.

"If we can improve the movement of basic commodities and movement of population, it will favorably contribute to the overall food security situation,' Lazzarini said.

'It is true that today we are in a situation which is comparable to 2010. We have a number of indicators telling us if we are not addressing the need today, the situation will get worse tomorrow," he said.

The last famine, in 2011, left more than a quarter of a million Somalis dead. But the warning signs were there in 2010 when a severe drought was aggravated by rival groups fighting for power and the international community was slow to respond.

Before these new guidelines, AU forces played an informal but crucial role in the making humanitarian assistance available.

In Beledweyne, a town in central Somalia, AMISOM soldiers from Djibouti are currently assisting recent flood victims.

Following victories by Somalia's army and AMISOM, life is slowly returning to normal in coastal towns like Adale recently freed from al-Shabab.

And with the return of stability, the government and its humanitarian partners hope to use towns such Adale as staging areas to deliver aid to the interior and drought-stricken areas of south central Somalia.