African-Led Peacekeeping Missions Deploy Where ‘There is No Peace at All’

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in late December 2024 announced that Egypt will contribute troops to the new African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).

The mission replaces the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), which ended December 31. AUSSOM is the 10th AU-led peacekeeping operation on the continent, as African governments and regional organizations increasingly handle security responsibilities once assumed by the United Nations. The most recent U.N. mission launched on the continent was in the Central African Republic in 2014. 

As Obi Anyadike wrote in The New Humanitarian, U.N. missions traditionally have deployed with all-party consent to enforce peace agreements. By contrast, AU operations intervene offensively in ongoing conflicts that involve violent extremism and banditry.

“The UN deploys where there is peace to be kept, African-led PSOs [peace support operations] deploy where there is no peace at all,” Andrew Tchie, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, told Anyadike. “[PSOs] demonstrate a more local, context-specific response to insecurity, and the goal of turning to more self-help options.”

There also are deployments by regional economic communities, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), and ad hoc initiatives, such as the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), which includes troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria that work to rid the region of Boko Haram.

Since 2000, 38 African-led PSOs have operated, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The AU authorized, mandated or launched four new operations in 2022.

AU PSOs also have fought epidemics, such as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They have supported ceasefires or peace agreements in Burundi, Mali and Somalia, and supported elections and transition processes in Burkina Faso, Comoros, Libya and Guinea.

However, shifting from U.N. peace operations toward militarized regional missions and ad hoc coalitions worries Eugene Chen, a senior fellow with New York University’s Center on International Cooperation.

“In particular, this turn back towards counter-terrorism, peace enforcement and other types of kinetic operations can actually be counter-productive in resolving conflicts,” Chen told The New Humanitarian. “It can exacerbate grievances and other socio-political and economic risk factors for violence.”

Analysts are keen to see how the new AUSSOM mission in Somalia unfolds. Although the previous missions struggled with multiple roles and expectations, AUSSOM will have a more defined role, according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

As with previous missions, AUSSOM is tasked with helping the federal government expand its legitimacy and eliminate the al-Shabaab terror group. Unlike previous missions, AUSSOM has an explicit mandate to protect civilians.

ATMIS was given less than three years to help the Somali National Army defeat al-Shabaab. AUSSOM has five years to complete its mission. AUSSOM is expected to gradually hand over security responsibilities to Somali forces and withdraw its personnel by the end of 2028.

As the ISS noted, AUSSOM will be deployed in a changed geopolitical environment, amid tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia over Addis Ababa’s January 2024 memorandum of understanding with Somaliland over port access.

“While the mission may help renew continental and international support for counter-terrorism in Somalia, protecting it from regional tensions will be essential,” ISS researchers reported.

In mid-November, Somalia Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur told Voice of America (VOA) that Ethiopia would not be part of the AUSSOM deployment. In mid-December, however, a senior Somali government official told VOA that the Somali government was “open” to a potential role for Ethiopian troops.

That stance did not last long.

On December 23, Somalia accused Ethiopian troops of attacking its forces at an airstrip in the border town of Doolow in Somalia’s Jubaland State. Four days later, Somali representatives told the U.N. Security Council that Ethiopian troops will not deploy with AUSSOM.

The Somali government has not disclosed a list of troop-contributing countries to the mission, but reports suggest that Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda will take part, according to Ethiopian newspaper The Reporter. Uganda is expected to deploy more than half of the 11,000 troops.