African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has requested for close to 9,000 more soldiers to facilitate its operations.
This request has come with a stern warning to the political elite against using their contribution to Somalia as a bargaining power to table their demands.
“States should not use AMISOM troops as a bargaining power to seek compliance on their demands,” said the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia (SRCC) Ambassador Fransisco Madeira.
He added, “These soldiers give so much including their lives. It is better to find other avenues to pile pressure on but not AMISOM soldiers.”
It is barely a week since Kenya started withdrawing her slightly over 1,000 soldiers out of rage from South Sudan after the United Nations fired Lt Johnson Ondieki as the peacekeeping army commander for allegedly not protecting civilians as indicated in a report that criticised his leadership.
Ahead of the October 2018 exit plan, Madeira said despite their ongoing peacekeeping efforts, they face a serious lack of logistics support.
By Graham Kajilwa
