New York [US], March 13: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) announced Friday its adoption of a resolution reauthorizing the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) until Dec. 31 and maintaining its overall 19,626 uniformed personnel level ahead of the phased handover of responsibilities to Somali security forces, planned for later 2021.
Resolution 2568 (2021) sets out AMISOM's functions, objectives and strategic objectives, as well as requests for logistical and financial support, terms for the Federal Government of Somalia, among others.
Recognizing the roles of the African Union (AU) and the UNSC, the council asks the AU to finalize its independent assessment and urged it to mandate in May an AMISOM that "supports and enables" the implementation of the Somalia Transition Plan, and implements the necessary steps to ensure continued support to Somali security efforts in 2022.
More broadly, the council underlined the need for Somalia and its partners to take a "coordinated and cohesive" approach towards Somali-led political and security reforms to ensure the transition of security responsibilities.
The council further requested that the AU and the Federal Government of Somalia jointly update AMISOM's Concept of Operations according to the Somalia Transition Plan until the end of 2023, in close collaboration with the federal member states, the UN and international partners, and present it to the UNSC no later than the end of August.
Among other functions, AMISOM will be authorized to realign its sectors with the boundaries of federal member states by the end of 2021 and establish a joint planning headquarters between AMISOM and the Somali security forces in each sector and federal member state.
AMISOM will also help Somalia's national security forces become more offensive as a quick reaction force by the end of August.
The council called upon the Federal Government of Somalia and the federal member states to organize free, fair, credible and inclusive elections, in line with the Sept. 17, 2020 agreement and without further delay, and to finalize a political agreement to that end.
Source: Xinhua