The African Union has called an emergency summit on Friday to salvage its military mission in Somalia, after the United States abruptly announced it would cut off critical funding citing “no progress” against the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab.
Somalia has been locked in a two-decade war with Al-Shabaab, which still controls large parts of the country despite repeated offensives. The AU’s flagship force, AUSSOM, provides roughly 12,000 troops to back Somali government forces. But in a July 1 letter to the AU, Washington confirmed it is terminating payments to the UN Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) the primary financial lifeline for AUSSOM by year’s end.
A senior African diplomat, speaking anonymously, called the decision “irreversible” and warned that the mission is effectively “finished.” The AU Commission has now convened an emergency session to discuss the fallout, according to internal documents seen by AFP.
“Without US-funded UN logistics, we have to draw a line under our mission in Somalia,” the diplomat said.
The US has poured nearly $2 billion into UN missions in Somalia since 2007, plus over $1.6 billion for African troops, and hundreds of millions more for Somali security forces and humanitarian aid. But the letter accuses Somalia’s government of failing to “sustain progress against al-Shabaab, take ownership of its security functions, or undertake serious security sector reform.”
Neither the AU nor Somalia’s government has publicly responded.
The funding crisis comes as Somalia spirals deeper into political chaos. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud unilaterally extended his term by a year after it expired in May, triggering violent clashes in Mogadishu and beyond. Opposition parties and regional states have rejected the move, further fracturing the country.
Mohamud had initially won praise for a large-scale offensive against Al-Shabaab after taking office in 2022. But most territorial gains have since been reversed, and the insurgency remains entrenched across central and southern Somalia.
“Somali forces were supposed to gradually take over security but it’s not happening. The political elite is too busy infighting,” said Zekarias Beshah, an analyst at the Amani Africa think-tank. “One cannot rule out a major advance by Al-Shabaab.”
