Jeremy Binnie, London – IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly
The EU has significantly decreased its funding for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), it has emerged.
The move was criticised during a summit of leaders from AMISOM’s contributing countries in Djibouti on 28 February. Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta said in his speech that the international community must provide adequate support for the mission in the run-up to elections later this year. “This is the time to strengthen AMISOM through a surge in troops and resources, not weaken it,” he said.
The joint declaration released at the end of the summit said the leaders noted “with serious concern the decision by the EU to reduce financial support to AMISOM troop allowance by 20%, especially during this critical phase of AMISOM operations” and called on the UN to cover the resulting shortfall.
An EU spokesperson told IHS Jane’s , “Contrary to various media reports, the EU remains committed to AMISOM and the EU’s African Peace Facility (APF) in general, as proven by the recent increase of APF funding from EUR750 million (USD817 million) to EUR900 million for the period 2014-2016.”
The APF will support the new Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Security Mission in Guinea-Bissau (ECOMIB) and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the Lake Chad area as well as AMISOM, the spokesperson said.
“To allow this increased funding to go as far as possible, the EU decided to also apply an 80% ceiling on the EU contribution to troop allowances for all new peace support operations and to AMISOM since January 2016,” he said.
At the same time, the EU wants African countries to do more to support peacekeeping missions in their continent. “Urgent additional financial support is needed also from African governments and regional organisations if we are to ensure sufficient and predictable support to African-led peace support operations,” the spokesperson said.
Source: Janes.com
