WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has ordered the re-establishment of a U.S. military presence in Somalia to help local authorities fight the militant group al-Shabaab, a senior U.S. official told reporters Monday.
The move reverses an order from Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, who withdrew nearly all US forces from the East African nation at the end of 2020 as he attempted to end US military commitments to the country.
Biden “has accepted a Department of Defense request to reposition US forces in East Africa to re-establish a small, sustained US military presence in Somalia,” the official said.
Fewer than 500 soldiers will be involved, the official said, adding that in Somalia “it will take a bit of time to get to that level”.
That’s slightly smaller than the initial footprint of 750 US troops, who spent years in the country carrying out operations against al-Shabaab but were later withdrawn under Trump and stationed in neighboring Kenya and Djibouti.
In December 2020, shortly before leaving office, Trump ordered the withdrawal from Somalia “against the advice of senior US military officials”, the official said.
“Since then, unfortunately, al-Shabaab…has only gone from strength to strength,” the official added.
The official suggested Biden’s decision had more to do with the security of US forces than with Sunday’s election of a new Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, after more than a year of political instability and a crisis. of drought.
- AFP
