Kenya receives $69.8 million for Al-Shabaab war in Somalia

Kenya Defence Forces launch artilley shells into Al-Shabaab hideouts in Fafadun, Somalia, during the fight to reclaim the port of Kismayu in 2012. [PHOTO: FILE/ STANDARD]

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya has received $69.8 million in compensation for Kenya Defence Forces [KDF] serving in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] for the just concluded 2022/23, which translates to a 93 percent jump ahead of the full withdrawal from the peacekeeping mission in under two years.

According to statistics, refunds to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia which was previously known as the African Union Mission in Somalia [Amisom], increased from $36 million in the previous year. The disbursement in the last financial year, analysts say, is the second highest since Kenya joined the mission in Somalia.

In June 2021, international partners led by the European Union released $89.4 million. Kenya's Treasury facilitates operations from the fiscal year before getting reimbursements from international partners. For the last 11 years, Kenya has received $586.5 million in the form of reimbursement.

Kenya formally sent about 4,660 soldiers to Somalia in October 2011 after incessant attacks and kidnapping of civilians by Al-Shabaab militants within its territory, numbers which have since been gradually trimmed. A year later, the UN Security Council gave Kenya the green light to join Amisom, a decision that meant the Treasury would not bear the full costs of the incursion.

Already, ATMIS has started a drawdown of troops from Somalia, with the first batch of 2000 soldiers leaving in June 2022. In September this year, another batch of 3000 soldiers is expected to leave the country as the Somalia National Army [SNA] takes over.

Defence Secretary Aden Duale said a fortnight ago that the drawdown, overseen by the UN Security Council and AU guided by the Somalia Transition Plan, started in earnest last June with the five countries withdrawing 2,000 military officers.

“This September 3,000 troops from all these contributing countries will draw down from Somalia. By December 2024, no more ATMIS will be in Somalia,” Mr Duale said during an interview on Citizen TV on August 16.

“We are in Somalia… to protect the national security interest of the Republic of Kenya and its people … [and] as part of our moral duty to be part and parcel of the regional peace and security in the Horn of Africa.”

Kenya has started establishing Forward Operating Bases along the border ahead of exit, which is anticipated to be concluded by 2024. The government of Somalia is currently conducting operations against the Al-Shabaab militants, who have been fighting to take over.

GAROWE ONLINE