The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) has called on support from all stakeholders, governments, military assets and local communities towards working together and combat the threat posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist group over the years has morphed and now has sharpened skills in the making and usage of the improvised explosive devices in their operations against their targets.
According to ATMIS Force Commander Diomede Ndegeya, threat emanating from IED emplacement by jihadist groups and especially by Al-Shabaab in Somalia and also in Kenya’s frontier regions requires the mission and its allies to come-up with creative counter-IED techniques.
“To mitigate the IED threat will require the military actors involving the Somali authorities and working with communities, to strengthen governance, and support stabilization efforts,” ATMIS Force Commander said in a statement issued on Thursday evening following the conclusion of a three-day conference in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
The conference was attended by Senior officials from ATMIS, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), and other important stakeholders who took part in taking stock the current IED countermeasures in order to build an elaborate and comprehensive IED threat reduction plan. The conference was notably attended by Somali security forces, the European Union Training Mission in Somalia (EUTM Somalia), the UK-Mission Support Team (UK-MST) to ATMIS, and other partners.
UNMAS Chief of Mine Action Programme, Jean Guy Lavoie, noted that the conference was an ideal opportunity for the participants to come up with innovative solutions to the menace posed by IEDs in Somalia.
Despite UNMAS’ attempts to improve the mission’s counter-IED capacity through training, mentorship, and material assistance, ATMIS Force Commander reiterated that IEDs remain a serious concern and need a concerned effort from stakeholders to enhance the military operators decisively counter-IED capability by the Islamist jihadist groups Somalia and broadly in East Africa region.
