Kenyans Troops have been fighting Al-Shabaab in Somalia for about seven years. The war is nearing an important milestone that may see Kenyan soldiers return back home in 2020, alongside Djibouti, Uganda, Ethiopia and Burundi soldiers deployed in Somalia. This withdrawal will be gradual and conditional.
The transition will require Kenyan officers to hand over all Police Stations manned by Kenyan troops over to the Somali Government.
All troops will also surrender all their Forward Operating Bases (FOB) to the Somali National Army.
In total there are over 21,000 African Union troops in Somalia.
Some of the conditions issued by Kenya’s Major-Generel Tai Gituai, currently the acting commander of the joint force in Somali include:
The Somali National Army (SNA) must possess all the resources and required skills to operate on their own in order for the Forward Operating Bases (FOB) to be handed over to them.
Prisons, a functional judicial system and health care system must be in place before the handover.
Mr Gituai also revealed that the European Union had given the government of Somalia €100 miliion (ksh 11 billion), funds expected to last till 2020 when Somali holds a General Election.
Kenyan troops in Somali are in charge of Kismayu area manning 16 Forward Operating Bases with its headquarters at Dhobley, which was previously an al-Shabaab stronghold before Kenyan troops took over in 2011.
KDF entered Somalia in October 2011, five years after Burundi and Ugandan troops had been deployed in Mogadishu under Amisom. A year later, Kenya joined Amison at the request of the African Union and United Nations.
