NAIROBI, December 24. /TASS/. The UN Security Council has extended the mandate of the African Union Mission for Support and Stabilization of Somalia (AUSSOM) for another year, until the end of 2026, information portal Africanews reported.
AUSSOM officially began operations on January 1, replacing the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia. The main task of the peacekeepers is to counter the radical Islamist group Al-Shabab and assist the Somali authorities in training their own security forces on counterterrorism. The mission numbered about 12,000 people. Several African countries participate in the mission, including Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.
Having supported the decision, China drew attention to the need to finance the mission. "At present, the funding gap facing AUSSOM is unsustainable and the liquidity shortfall confronting UNSOS raises our concern," said the country's representative to the United Nations, Sun Lei. "China calls on international partners, particularly traditional donors, to honour their founding commitments and to move expeditiously to alleviate AUSSOM's urgent financial strain."
The Al-Shabab group, a wing of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization (banned in Russia), was established in Somalia in 2004. It numbers 18,000 militants. The terrorists have been driven out of the major cities, but they still control some rural areas, regularly organize attacks and have managed to retake some of the previously liberated territories. Somali troops are fighting the Islamists, assisted by local militias and African Union peacekeeping forces, as well as military personnel from a number of other countries.