Mogadishu June 21, 2023 (SD) -The African Union Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) announced today, that it has launched an operation to reduce the number of troops by the security transition plan for the Somali national forces.

ATMIS reported that they have transferred a military base from the Burundian forces to the Somali National Army in the central region.

The Commander of ATMIS forces in Sector 5, Colonel Richard Bimenimana, officially handed over the military base to the Somali National Army.

The event was attended by officials from both sides. The Commander of the sector, Major Bashir, expressed gratitude for the transfer of the headquarters. He emphasized that this step is part of the plan to hand over security responsibilities to the country’s armed forces.

The Sector 5 headquarters is located approximately 70 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu in the area of Haji Ali. It is one of the strategic locations that will be handed over to the national army by the end of June 2023.

It should be noted that there are still ongoing attacks by the Al-Shabaab group, despite the efforts of the government and ATMIS to counter them.

Just last month, 54 peacekeeping soldiers from Uganda were killed when Al-Shabaab attacked a base in the village of Buulamareer in Lower Shabelle region.

This attack was one of the deadliest since the start of the large-scale military campaign against the group.

The ATMIS mission began last year as a replacement for the previous peacekeeping mission AMISOM, consisting of 20,000 troops from several countries, including Burundi, Kenya, and Uganda.