Egypt sends senior military team to Somalia ahead of AU mission deployment
CAIRO/MOGADISHU — Egypt has dispatched a high-level military delegation to Mogadishu ahead of the planned deployment of Egyptian troops to the African Union’s new mission in Somalia, signaling fresh momentum in regional security cooperation as Somalia confronts a resilient al-Shabaab insurgency.
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The 16-member Egyptian team, led by Maj. Gen. Islam Radwan, arrived in the Somali capital on Sunday and was received by officers from the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) and the Somali National Armed Forces. The delegation held talks with the AU mission’s leadership, including the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Amb. El Hadji Ibrahima Diene, and attended security briefings at both AUSSOM’s force headquarters and the legacy facilities of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) in Mogadishu.
During their stay, the Egyptian officers are expected to tour key bases, review logistics, and inspect facilities tied to the upcoming deployment in the capital and in forward operating locations. The move follows approval by the African Union Peace and Security Council for Egypt’s formal participation in AUSSOM, the AU’s reconfigured mission designed to support Somali-led stabilization as ATMIS winds down.
Why this matters now
Somalia remains locked in a grinding conflict with al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked group that has weathered years of offensives. While the militants have been pushed from many urban centers, they retain influence and mobility across rural strongholds, particularly in south-central regions, enabling them to launch complex assaults and maintain an extortion-based economy. UN monitoring reports have for years assessed that al-Shabaab raises tens of millions of dollars annually through taxation and illicit levies—a war chest that sustains its insurgency and propaganda machine.
For Mogadishu, the international support is not just about troop numbers. It’s about capability, logistics, and continuity as the security architecture shifts. The AU has been recalibrating its footprint in Somalia—moving from a heavy, transitional mission toward a leaner support model that centers Somali security forces. Egypt’s entry into AUSSOM arrives at a delicate moment in that handover.
A regional stake in Somali stability
Egypt’s decision to contribute personnel reflects broader regional dynamics. The Horn of Africa sits at the crossroads of Red Sea shipping lanes and the western Indian Ocean, a maritime corridor that matters to Cairo’s economy and global trade via the Suez Canal. As shipping disruptions in the Red Sea have underscored over the past year, insecurity on one shore can ripple through supply chains thousands of miles away.
Politically, Egypt’s engagement also arrives amid a tense regional backdrop, including Cairo’s fraught ties with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and shifting alignments in the Horn. The AU will be keen to keep AUSSOM focused squarely on supporting Somalia’s stabilization plan, avoiding any perception that the mission is a proxy arena for wider disputes. For Somali authorities, every new partner must fit within a set of priorities: building national forces, protecting major population centers and supply routes, and degrading al-Shabaab’s capacity to tax, recruit, and terrorize.
Inside the visit
Sunday’s engagements were part introductory, part technical. Somali and AU officers briefed Maj. Gen. Radwan’s team on the security picture, the force posture that AUSSOM envisages, and the logistical challenges—everything from airlift and medical evacuation to communications and sustainment. The delegation’s itinerary includes site assessments in and around Mogadishu to map out deployment options, force protection measures, and lines of coordination with Somali units already operating in the field.
Details of Egypt’s eventual troop footprint have not been publicly announced. AU officials say contributions under AUSSOM will emphasize support roles that amplify Somali-led operations: training and mentoring, enablers like engineering and signals, and limited combat support where required. For a mission designed to help the Somali state hold and stabilize areas cleared of al-Shabaab, these support functions can be decisive.
From ATMIS to AUSSOM: the AU’s next chapter in Somalia
Since 2007, African Union missions have provided essential scaffolding to Somali stability—first under AMISOM, then ATMIS. Those forces, largely from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, fought hard battles to wrest cities like Mogadishu and Kismayo from al-Shabaab’s control. As ATMIS draws down, AUSSOM aims to lock in those gains by bolstering Somali security institutions and civil authorities.
That transition is not automatic. Stabilization requires securing roads so markets can function, protecting clinics and schools, and ensuring that national and local administrations can operate without fear. In practical terms, that means not just armed patrols but predictable logistics: fuel, spare parts, medics, and the quiet, unglamorous tasks that determine whether a district stays open for business or slumps back into fear and tax collection by gunmen.
Somalia’s challenge—and opportunity
The Somali government has laid out ambitious plans for consolidating control and extending services. It has stepped up operations with regional allies and invested in its own army, particularly the Danab special forces and the Gorgor units. Yet al-Shabaab’s ability to strike soft targets and intimidate communities remains significant. In recent years, the group has demonstrated a capacity for complex attacks in Mogadishu and beyond, even as its freedom of maneuver in some regions has been curtailed.
Security officials in the capital often describe a race against time: to train and equip local police, to empower district councils, and to deliver a visible dividend—roads repaired, checkpoints streamlined, markets reopened—before fear returns. In that race, the arrival of new partners can give the government breathing room to keep moving forward.
What to watch next
- Deployment timeline: The AU has approved Egypt’s participation, but the size, roles, and sequencing of the Egyptian contingent will be closely watched in Mogadishu and across the region.
- Coordination on the ground: Effective integration with Somali forces—deconfliction, joint planning, and intelligence sharing—will be pivotal to any gains.
- Funding and sustainability: As the AU refines AUSSOM’s mandate, long-term financing remains a core question for African-led missions across the continent, from troop stipends to aviation.
In Mogadishu, the rhythms of a city living with insecurity continue: traffic slows at blast walls, the call to prayer cuts through the humid air, and shopkeepers reopen after each security sweep. The work of stabilization happens in those everyday spaces. Egypt’s arrival adds another layer of support to that effort, part of a broader gamble that a leaner, smarter AU mission can help Somalia tip the balance against al-Shabaab and hold the ground it gains.
The stakes are larger than one deployment. In a year of shifting security priorities, from the Red Sea to the Sahel, the AU’s recalibration in Somalia will be read as a test of Africa’s capacity to manage complex transitions—moving from heavy peace operations to missions that enable local forces and civilian authorities to lead. Can that model deliver enough stability, fast enough, to make a difference for ordinary Somalis? The coming weeks may offer an early answer as Cairo’s planners walk the ground and prepare for what comes next.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
