NEWS: Current commander in Somalia takes over AU role

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:36 pm

The African Union Mission troop in Somalia ushers a new force commander in Mogadishu.

Lieutenant General Diomede Ndegeya who arrived on sunday would lead a force normally from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The nations have been enforcing order in Somalia for over a decade now.

The commander who is no stranger to the country, will have to confront the never-ending Al shaab attacks and the regularly occurring claims of the presence of non-AMISOM troops in Somalia.

With a career spanning 38 years, General Ndegeya, 57, in the past served in Somalia from 2007 to 2009, as a member of the Burundi National Defence Forces – AMISOM’s pre-deployment group in-charge of supervising and training.

In 2012, he was part of a reconnaissance mission to the Bay and Bakool regions of Somalia in advance of AMISOM troop deployment there.

He has additionally worked as a senior guide to Burundi’s defence minister and published a wide variety of research papers on peacekeeping missions in Africa and professionalisation of the Burundi National Defence Forces, amongst others.

(AFP)