Lasting peace in Somalia remains elusive. Past interventions ended disastrously, casting a shadow on the design, implementation, and authorization of subsequent peacemaking efforts. The deployment of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in 2007 offered a fresh start. AMISOM is the first African Union (AU) mission tasked with peace enforcement, and given an evolving and complex mandate that includes counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency as well as more traditional training and support to the Somalia National Security Forces (SNSF). Nonetheless, the mission has faced a number of serious challenges and setbacks.
As revealed by an extensive review of official documents and existing academic literature, and critically, through interviews with those most involved in executing the mission — military commanders and senior political officials from AMISOM’s Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) as well as UN personnel in Addis Ababa, Mogadishu, and Nairobi — many of AMISOM’s ongoing issues are connected to three core challenges:
- AMISOM’s mandating process;
- AMISOM’s mission support arrangements;
- The frameworks and practical challenges that shape AMISOM’s engagement with the SNSF.
