the African Union (au) and its partners have called for enhanced and coordinated support to the au mission in somalia( amisom) and to the somali national institutions, including the somali national security forces (SNSF).
In a meeting held on the premises of the au headquarters in ethiopia’s capital addis ababa, au and its partners have deliberated on the situation in somalia and ways of enhanced and coordinated support to the horn of african nation.
During the meeting on thursday, smail chergui, au commissioner for peace and security, met and discussed the issue with the partners, according to an au statement on saturday.
Ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions to the pan-african bloc, from canada, china, denmark, eu, france, germany, india, italy, japan, kuwait, qatar, russia, saudi arabia, spain, sweden, turkey, united kingdom, united arab emirates and u.s. Have attended the meeting.
The united nations office to the au and the united nations support office to somalia (unsos) also attended the meeting that has taken place against the background of the 17th military operations coordination committee (mocc) held in nairobi on feb. 8, 2016.
The statement noted that the mocc acknowledged successes made by amisom but also highlighted the need for enhanced support to amisom and to the snsf in their fight against al-shabaab and other emerging threats in somalia.
The meeting provided an opportunity for the partners to exchange views on the situation in somalia, as well as providing information on the nature and areas of support including bilateral assistance to somalia so as to promote greater coordination and avoid duplication of efforts.
Acknowledging the progress made in generation of air assets for amisom, the meeting reiterated the urgency of generating additional force multipliers and enablers in order to enhance amisom efficiency.