The UN Security Council on Tuesday adopted a measure extending authorization for the African Union-led force in Somalia through 2026.
The African Union Support and Stabilization Mission (AUSSOM) is deployed in the troubled Horn of Africa country to back Somali security forces and combat the Al-Shabaab jihadist group.
It replaced a previous “transition” mission in January, which itself was a transformation of an African Union force initially launched in 2007.
Despite gains by the Somalian and AUSSOM forces against Al-Shabaab in 2022 and 2023, the Al-Qaeda-linked group has gone on the offensive since last year.
It claimed responsibility for an attack in March that narrowly missed the convoy of Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and fired shells at Mogadishu’s airport in April.
In August, Somalia’s armed forces and AUSSOM recaptured the strategic town of Bariire, home to a military base and located around 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu.
The resolution adopted Tuesday maintains the AUSSOM’s maximum number of uniformed personnel at 11,826, including 680 police officers.
It also expresses the Council’s “concern at the ongoing chronic underfunding of AUSSOM.”
The United States abstained from the vote, which all 14 other Council members supported.
