IGAD Chiefs of Defence Staff meet on Somalia
A three-day meeting of IGAD Chiefs of Defence Staff took place in Addis Ababa this week in advance of the AU Summit at the weekend. Representatives from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda attended. The meeting followed the decision of the recent IGAD Extraordinary Summit to raise the strength of AMISOM forces in Mogadishu by another 2,000 troops to its authorised level of 8,000, and the visit of an IGAD military delegation to Mogadishu to evaluate the situation on the ground. The meeting, chaired by Ethiopia’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Samora Yunus, was briefed by the Commander of AMISOM, the Director of EASBRIGCOM, and the representative of the UN Political Office for Somalia. It also heard from the Chief of the Defence Staff of Somalia’s TFG, and from the IGAD Facilitator, Kipruto Arap Kirwa.
Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, Chairman of the IGAD Executive Council, attended the opening of the meeting. In a keynote address he pointed out that the latest developments in Mogadishu had underlined the concerns that had led IGAD ministers to recommend the convening of this meeting. The Kampala terrorist bombings had also demonstrated the wider implications of the failure of the international community to take the necessary steps to deal with the international terrorist threat in Somalia. He suggested that if the UN had considered blue-helmeting AMISOM forces, it would have been possible to ensure the predictability, reliability and sustainability of resources to help build peace in Somalia and maintain it. Now, IGAD had to grapple with what was needed to be done to enable the TFG to lead a fight against international terrorism. Now, it was the task of the Chiefs of the Defence Staff to come up with concrete plans on how to deploy the planned 2,000 more troops for AMISOM as quickly and effectively as possible. They also needed to discuss the creation of a unified command for TFG security forces and to bring TFG and other trained troops under a single command. Overall, the task for the meeting was to find ways and means to reverse the aggression of international terrorism. The struggle was now between the people of Somalia and international terrorism. Failure, said Minister Seyoum, was not an option for the region. Al-Shabaab terrorists, despite a total lack of popular support, had taken advantage of a near vacuum in security in Somalia, but they could not be allowed to succeed to impose themselves on the people of Somalia by force and through violence.
In its closed sessions, the meeting reviewed the political and security situation in Somalia and the status of the TFG’s security forces, and considered recommendations for reorganising and enhancing their capacity. It also deliberated on a number of related issues, strongly condemning the terrorist attacks in Kampala and underlining the need for a regional approach to address Al-Shabaab’s aggression. General Samora said the report of the meeting of the IGAD Chiefs of Defence Staff would be submitted to the African Summit at the weekend, and that the meeting would provide the AU Commission with a plan of action for deployment for the additional 2,000 troops for AMISOM. AMISOM is currently a peacekeeping operation with limited rules of engagement. This contrasts with peace-enforcement operations which allow for greater use of force in situations where there is no agreed ceasefire and considerable violence. AMISOM has suggested that it should be given more freedom of action and, in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Kampala, there is considerable support for allowing the mission greater flexibility of response.