MOGADISHU, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) on Thursday completed the handover of another military base in Jowhar town, southwest Somalia, to the Somali security forces, marking Phase Three of its troop withdrawal.

ATMIS Military Chief Engineer Suleiman Ibrahim, in a statement from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, assured the Somali people that there would be no security vacuum during the troop drawdown. He praised the dedication and sacrifices of both the Somali security forces and the outgoing ATMIS Burundi contingent in stabilizing the region.

The handover of the Barire military base, which had been under the control of ATMIS Uganda Peoples Defense Forces since 2019, in the Lower Shabelle region on June 15 marked the beginning of the third phase of the troop drawdown.

During the first and second phases of the drawdown, concluded in 2023, the AU mission withdrew 5,000 troops and handed over 17 military bases to the Somali Security Forces.

Patrick Duah, chief of the Transition Planning Cell at the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), said that UNSOS provided essential logistical support for the handover of the military base. This included relocating unserviceable UN equipment and donating serviceable items to the Somali National Army (SNA), such as water treatment plants, generators, solar panels, containers, water storage tanks, communication towers, and boom gates.

Duah also announced that UNSOS provided the SNA with vital equipment to enhance camp utility and life support, further supporting Somalia's security transition.

The third phase of the ATMIS drawdown is in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2628 (2022), 2670 (2022) and 2710 (2023), which mandate ATMIS to withdraw 4,000 troops by the end of June 2024. Enditem

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