ADDIS ABABA – The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is reconstituting its Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) to establish sustainable bases which also involve reviewing design and layout to enhance positive impact on safety and security of its troops, logistical costs and combat force ineffectiveness, said AMISOM Public Information sent to The Ethiopian Herald.
The AMISOM Head of Mission Support, Maj. Gen. Fidza Dludlu said, “The threat has continuously changed hence we want better protection for our troops in the frontline. We also need to come up with a standardized FOB layout,” on a conference for AMISOM sector engineers held in Mogadishu. Maj. Gen. Dludlu explained that the reconstitution of FOBs is part of the implementation of the Somali Transition Plan, which will see the AU Mission further reduce its troops by 1000 this year.
The exercise might require the handing over of some of the military bases to the Somali National Security Forces as part of the transfer of security responsibility to federal government, Dludlu indicated. “Our focus is to support the Somali Transition Plan. This may need us to handover some FOBs or collapse or create new ones,” Gen. Dludlu added. Gen. Dludlu appealed to the officers to put aside their different military doctrines and come up with a standard structure, which will guarantee troop safety and increase efficiency in FOBs.
AMISOM Force Engineer, Col. Olugbemi Adeboye Obasanjo for his part, noted that the safety and security of AMISOM troops is paramount to the fulfillment of the AU Mission’s mandate. “We have to first of all ensure that our troops are secure and safe from where they can launch offensive operations, do their patrols and carry out any other operations in fulfillment of AMISOM mandate,” Col. Obasanjo stated. The two-day conference also discussed other security issues threat assessment and field defense stores among others.
Herald January 11/2019
BY DIRRIBA TESHOME
