The United Nations security council unanimously voted on 15 August 2024 to extend the mandate of the 12,626 men and women of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis). The African mission has been stationed in Somalia for the past 17 years to support the government’s battle against the homegrown terrorist group al-Shabaab. Despite recent government successes, fighting continues in Somalia.
Why has al-Shabaab proved such a hard nut to crack?
It’s 18 years since the militant group Harakat al-Shabaab, as al-Shabaab refers to itself, rose out of the disintegrating Somali state. It emerged in 2006 from an existing radical network that lorded it over the capital Mogadishu through sharia courts. Since then it has suffered both battlefield defeats and territorial losses. Yet it remains as strong as ever.
