New African Union force commander in Somalia urges more collaboration against Shabaab militants

Kampala: The new commander of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), Uganda's Lieutenant General Sam Kavuma, has called for continued collaboration to degrade al-Shabaab militants to achieve peace in Somalia.

Kavuma, who arrived Sunday in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, expressed gratitude for the efforts of all troop-contributing countries to ATMIS, which has resulted in the liberation of many towns in Somalia, the Ugandan military said in a statement issued Monday in Kampala, the capital.

"He acknowledged the significant achievements made by various actors, including the Federal Government of Somalia, and emphasized the importance of continued collaboration to degrade al-Shabaab, achieve peace, and enable Somalis to engage in productive development," read the statement.

The statement said Kavuma takes over the mission at a critical juncture, as ATMIS prepares for a phased drawdown and transition into a new mission to stabilize Somalia, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I am here to join the team as we implement the transition into a new mission come December 2024. As the team captain, I will head the military components in ATMIS," Kavuma was quoted as saying in the statement.

Kavuma succeeds Lieutenant General Sam Okiding, who had been the ATMIS force commander since May 2023 but later appointed as Uganda's new deputy chief of defense forces in March 2024.

Uganda is one of the troop-contributing countries to the ATMIS battling militants in Somalia, together with Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

ATMIS was created when the African Union, jointly with the Somali government, reconfigured the AU Mission to Somalia (AMISOM).

Following the reconfiguration, the ATMIS became operational on April 1, 2022, effectively replacing AMISOM.