A daylong meeting of the Federal Government of Somalia, the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the UN and other key stakeholders, was convened on Wednesday, to review progress made in the security sector, under the Comprehensive Approach to Security (CAS).
The CAS Strand 1 meeting, co-chaired by the Federal Minister of Defence Mr. Hassan Ali Mohamed and the AU Special Representative for Somalia Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira assessed progress made in the implementation of the Comprehensive Approach to Security, a component of the Security Pact, signed in London in May 2017, and which seeks a holistic approach to addressing the Somalia’s security challenges.
“Technical work has been going on and we are happy to hold this meeting, to update you on the progress made and discuss the implementation of the tasks before us,” said the Defence Minister Hassan Ali Mohamed in his opening remarks.
“Currently we are conducting disruption operations in the Lower Shabelle, Middle Shabelle and Hiiraan, which were planned with the support of AMISOM, designed to keep the Al-Shabaab off balance,” the minister told the meeting.
CAS is hinged on three key strands notably political agreements and links between the Federal Government and Federal Members states; which among others, includes the agreement on the National Security Architecture; countering violent extremism and integration of the national army. It is also pegged on the security of the 2020 elections; and reformed security institutions.
“Today we are better informed on what the theatre of our operations look like and what each one of us needs to do,” Ambassador Madeira stated, adding that AMISOM troops would “continue to deliver”, with the Mission remains “fully committed” to implementing its mandate and the Transition Plan.
The AU troops have been engaged in protecting the Main Supply Routes (MSRs), key installations and key population centres; as well as intensifying military operations in Jubbaland, the South West and HirShabelle states; and the Benadir Regional Administration, Ambassador Madeira stated.
In addition to reviewing progress made in the security front, the meeting also reviewed AMISOM’s Operational Readiness Assessment (ORA), among others.
ORA, one of the tasks accomplished by AMISOM as set out in its plans last year, audited the state of the Somali security forces both at the federal and regional state levels.
Ambassador Madeira called for a cautious approach to the implementation of the Transition Plan, noting that building requisite capacity of the Somali security forces remains critical to the whole process.
“It is therefore important that the force generation of the Somali security forces that are going to take over from us, remains predictable and visible,” he said
