The current AU force in Somalia includes about 3 000 Ethiopian troops. (Michele Spatari/AFP) Somalia insisted Saturday that Ethiopia will not be part of a new African Union peacekeeping mission, as the two nations remain locked in a dispute that has sent shivers through the Horn of Africa. African Union troops have been engaged in the fight against Al-Shabaab jihadists in Somalia since 2007, with the aim of eventually handing over security responsibility to national forces. The current AU force in Somalia known as ATMIS — which includes about 3,000 Ethiopian troops — is due to wrap up at the end of the year, to be replaced by a revamped mission called AUSSOM. “Ethiopia is the only government we know of so far that will not participate in the new mission because it has violated our sovereignty and unity,” Somalia’s Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur said in a television interview....

Sunday November 10, 2024 FILE – Somali Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur Jama – Official X account November 2024: The Somali government has declared the exclusion of Ethiopian troops from the forthcoming African Union mission set to replace the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) in January 2025, Somali news website Hiiran reported on Saturday. The decision was confirmed by Somali Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur Jama in an interview with Somali national TV today. He stated that the exclusion stems from Ethiopia’s perceived transgressions against Somalia’s sovereignty. Minister Jama emphasized during the televised interview on Saturday that Ethiopian forces would not be part of the new African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) due to Ethiopia’s actions, which Somalia views as compromising its independence and territorial integrity. This exclusion follows a series of escalating tensions triggered by Ethiopia’s controversial Memorandum of Understanding with Somaliland, inked in...