Muhoozi woos international partners to support Somalia

PIC: Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi (right) speaks during the meeting. (Courtesy photo)

The international community has been asked to work with the Troop Contributing Countries (TTCs) in Somalia to build a strong and dependable central government that can take charge of the country's national security.

The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of the Ugandan army, Gen David Muhoozi made the appeal Wednesday while officiating the meeting of Chiefs of Defence Forces of TCCs at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala.

According to a release from Ministry of Defence, Gen. Muhoozi noted that building a strong and dependable central government will help the Somali government after African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has folded.

He said the security of Somalia should be in the hands of the Somalis despite the temporary engagement of foreign armed forces against the Al-Shabaab terror threats.

He called upon the TTCs to collectively come up with strategies that can stabilise Somalia for peace and development to prevail, saying that the existence of AMISOM in Somalia is not forever.

"We need to make Somalia stable for the existence of regional peace and stability in spite of the challenges we face," said Gen Muhoozi.

He also emphasised that TCCs and other AMISOM partners remained committed to mitigating the enormous challenges they face in Somalia such as terrorist threats and piracy.

Other AMISOM challenges he cited were limited commanders and troops on the ground, lack of enough force multipliers and inadequate skills among the officers of the Somali National Army (SNA). 

Muhoozi further briefed the TCCs of the need to identify challenges that can help draw a line between the mandate of the mission and the required funding.

"We are all important players in ensuring the stability of Somalia and each of us has a role to play towards the success of the mission."

He added that the phased reduction of troops in accordance to the UN Security Council Resolution 2072 of September 21^st 2017 in New York would later be realized if only tasks and responsibilities of AMISOM could scale down.

Present at the meeting were Chiefs of Defence Forces and staff of TCCs, senior officials from African Union, experts from TCCs and other delegates.

Today's meeting preceded the summit of heads of State and Government of TTCs scheduled for Friday March 2. The summit is being convened by President Yoweri Museveni within the framework of the conclusions of a September 2017 meeting in New York.

Museveni held the New York meeting on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly. Its thrust was phased reduction and draw-down of the AMISOM troops and the gradual handover of security responsibilities to Somali security forces.

On Tuesday, while officiating at the opening of the senior officials' meeting of TCCs that was also part of the summit, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Patrick Mugoya asked delegates to put more effort into consolidating AMISOM's gains.

He also commended all TCCs for exhibiting the spirit of Pan-Africanism in establishing mechanisms that aim at stabilizing Somalia. The TTCs are Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the host Uganda.

Uganda was the first country to deploy troops under AMISOM into Somalia in March 2007 and the country remains the largest contingent with 6,223 troops.