Somalia's President at RUSI
The Somali army will be ready to take over from African Union forces when they leave the country in 2024, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said at a talk in London on Tuesday. ... ATMIS -- made up of troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda - was due to begin a second phase of withdrawal in September, with the departure of 3,000 soldiers. But the Somali government requested and obtained a three-month postponement. "It just coincided with a time that we have some setback and we have been struggling to reorganise," he told the London conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute think tank. "But now we are ready," he said, adding the country was "good to take over" in December 2024, the current target.