African Union Mission to Somalia The African Union Mission in Somalia ( AMISOM ) is an active , regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations in Somalia . It is mandated to support transitional governmental structures , implement a national security plan , train the Somali security forces , and to assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid . As part of its duties , AMISOM also supports the Federal Government of Somalia ' s forces in their battle against Al - Shabaab militants . AMISOM was created by the African Union ' s Peace and Security Council on 19 January 2007 with an initial six - month mandate . On 21 February 2007 the United Nations Security Council approved the mission ' s mandate . Subsequent six - monthly renewals of AMISOM ' s mandate by the African Union Peace and Security Council have also been authorised by the United Nations Security Council . AMISOM ' s UN mandate was extended for an additional six months in August 2008 by UNSCR 1831 . AMISOM ’ s mandate has been extended each period that it has been up for review . It is currently set to be reviewed again on 28 February 2014 , following the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2093 . Origin of the mission . AMISOM replaced and subsumed the IGAD Peace Support Mission in Somalia ( IGASOM ) , which was a proposed Intergovernmental Authority on Development protection and training mission to Somalia approved by the African Union on September 14 , 2006 . IGASOM was also approved by the United Nations Security Council on December 6 , 2006 . IGASOM was originally proposed for immediate implementation in March 2005 to provide peacekeeping forces for the latest phase of the Somali Civil War . At that time , the Islamic Courts Union ( ICU ) had not yet taken control of Mogadishu , and most hopes for national unity lay with the Transitional Federal Government ( TFG ) which had organized in Nairobi , Kenya in 2004 and were planning to established a provisional capital in Baidoa , Bay region , Somalia . By May 2006 , the situation was radically different , as the ICU had recently been engaged by the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter - Terrorism or ARPCT and was fighting for control of Mogadishu in the Second Battle of Mogadishu . By June , they had established control of the capital . Fighting began to spread to other parts of the nation as the ICU gained ground . Plans for IGASOM continued , though by July there were indications of opposition from the ICU , who saw the initiative as a US - backed , Western means to curb the growth of their Islamic movement . Until December 2006 , the UN Security Council had imposed an arms embargo on the group , but the embargo was partially lifted and a mandate for IGASOM issued on 6 December 2006 for six months . On 21 February 2007 , the United Nations Security Council authorised the African Union to deploy a peacekeeping mission with a mandate of six months . In March 2007 , Ugandan military officials arrived on the ground in Somalia . On 20 August 2007 , the United Nations Security Council extended the African Union ' s authorisation to continue deploying AMISOM for a further six months and requested the Secretary - General to explore the option of replacing AMISOM with a United Nations Peacekeeping Operation to Somalia . Mission planning . Scope of the mission . IGASOM was expected to eventually reach 8 , 000 troops , with an expected cost of $ 335 million for the first year . According to UN Security Council Resolution 1725 , states bordering Somalia would not be eligible to deploy troops under IGASOM . The remaining ( non - bordering ) IGAD member nations include Sudan , Eritrea , and Uganda . Because of the objection of the burden falling on these three nations alone ( and the rivalry between Ethiopia and Eritrea ) , the mission was expanded to include other Member States of the African Union . AMISOM has a different composition . As proposed , it is to comprise an initial 3 battalions , growing to a total of 9 battalions of 850 troops each , which would serve for an initial stabilization period of 6 months . The mission was to be modelled after the African Union Mission in Burundi ( AMIB ) . ICU resistance . As early as March 25 , 2005 Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys of the Union of Islamic Courts warned any peacekeepers would be unwelcome in the country . He was quoted by the BBC as saying , " We will fight fiercely to the death any intervention force that arrives in Somalia . " Yet at the time , the ICU was not the political or military force it was to become later . Faced with the ascendancy of the ICU after taking over the capital in the Second Battle of Mogadishu between May and June , 2006 , UN - watchers were growing concerned with the level of hostility of the ICU towards the proposed IGASOM mission . Though IGAD and the ICU met and published a cordial and formal communique committing the ICU to the IGAD plans on December 2 , by the time United Nations Security Council Resolution 1725 was passed on December 6 , the ICU was openly and militantly opposed to peacekeepers entering Somalia , and vowed to treat any peacekeepers as hostile forces . Because of regional divisions , there were also UIC resistance to allowing Ethiopian troops be part of the mission . Ethiopia , for its part , was leery of allowing Eritrean troops to be members of the IGAD peacekeeping force . In the face of ICU threats , Uganda , the only IGAD members who had openly offered to send forces ( a battalion ) , withdrew in the face of concerns of the present feasibility of the mission . In Uganda ' s defense , the crisis does not allow for peacekeepers when there are active hostilities conducted with heavy weapons ( see Battle of Baidoa ) . On December 23 , 2006 , the fate and feasibility of IGASOM remained uncertain , though US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa to obtain assurances and emphasize plans to deploy IGASOM early in 2007 . On January 1 , 2007 , after the defeat of the ICU in various battles in December 2006 , Uganda again renewed its pledge of a battalion of troops . Between Uganda and Nigeria ( which is a Member State of the African Union , but not of IGAD ) , there was a pledge of a total of 8 , 000 peacekeepers . Malawi also pledged to send forces , while Ghana , Rwanda and Tanzania may do so . Gathering support . Following the defeat of the Islamic Courts Union in December 2006 – January 2007 the international community began to gather both fiscal commitments as well as military forces for the mission . Nations of the African Union ( AU ) outside the IGAD community were drawn on to provide support . On January 17 , 2007 , the US ambassador to Kenya , Michael Ranneberger , said the US pledged $ 40 million to support the deployment of a peacekeeping force for Somalia . By January 20 , the European Union followed with a pledge of 15 million euros . On January 19 , 2007 the mission was formally defined and approved by the African Union at the 69th meeting of the Peace and Security Council . On January 22 , 2007 Malawi agreed to send a half - battalion to a battalion ( ranging widely anywhere between approximately 400 to 1 , 200 troops ) for a peacekeeping mission to Somalia . On January 24 , 2007 Nigeria pledged a battalion ( a force between 770 and 1 , 100 troops ) to join the Somali peacekeeping mission . On February 1 , 2007 Burundi committed to the peacekeeping mission , pledging up to 1 , 000 troops . By March 27 , it was confirmed that 1700 Burundian peacekeepers would be sent to Somalia . On February 2 , 2007 , the United Nations Security Council welcomed the advent of the African Union and IGAD - led peacekeeping mission . On February 5 , 2007 Tanzania offered to train Somali government troops , but not to deploy peacekeepers . On February 9 , 2007 a gathering of 800 Somali demonstrators in north Mogadishu , where Islamist support was strongest , burned U . S . , Ethiopian , and Ugandan flags in protest of the proposed peacekeeping mission . A masked representative of the resistance group , the Popular Resistance Movement in the Land of the Two Migrations , said Ethiopian troops would be attacked in their hotels ; the same group had made a video warning peacekeepers to avoid coming to Somalia . By this date , Uganda , Nigeria , Ghana , Malawi and Burundi had committed to the peacekeeping mission , but the total force was about half of the proposed 8 , 000 - strong force . Uganda had pledged 1 , 400 troops and some armored vehicles for a mission lasting up to 9 months , and the AU had pledged $ 11 . 6 million . On February 16 , 2007 Uganda announced it would deploy 1 , 500 well - seasoned troops as early as Saturday , February 17 , 2007 under the command of Major General Levi Karuhanga . The troops had been training for two years in preparation for the mission . The Burundian troops were technically ready to go in early August 2007 , but equipment promised by the United States and France had not yet arrived . On December 23 , 2007 , an advance force of 100 Burundians was deployed and another 100 soldiers arrived on 2007 - 12 - 24 . By late 2008 , 1 , 700 Burundian soldiers were deployed to Mogadishu . Expanding role . In a closed door meeting in Kampala on 22 July 2010 , AU ministers agreed to expand the mission ' s mandate from a peacekeeping focus to a peace - enforcement focus that would engage al - Shabaab more directly . The decision came soon after deadly bomb attacks in the Ugandan capital . A few days later in response to UN pressure , the AU agreed not to expand the mandate but did allow preemptive strikes against Al - Shabaab and promised more troops from other African countries . On July 23 , 2010 , Djibouti and Guinea pledged troops to AMISOM . In March 2011 Burundi sent 1 , 000 extra soldiers to AMISOM , bringing the total number of Burundi troops deployed to 4 , 400 . In February 2012 , the U . N . Security Council boosted the amount of troops deployed from 12 , 000 to 17 , 731 . The approval comes after a series of recent successes against al - Shabaab fighters who had previous positions throughout the central and southern areas of the country . During the same month , AU Commander Fred Mugisha suggested that Al - Shabaab was " at [ its ] weakest " and would likely " implode in the not so distant future " owing to successive military defeats that it suffered as well as an exodus toward the Arabian Peninsula of hundreds of the group ' s fighters . Due to the successful military operations against the Islamists , the United States has also been stepping up efforts to train and equip the AMISOM troops in a bid to stamp out the Al - Shabaab insurgency and limit its influence . In October 2011 , a coordinated operation between the Somali military and the Kenyan military began against the Al - Shabaab group of militants in southern Somalia . The mission is officially being led by the Somali army , with the Kenyan forces providing a support role . On 12 November , the Kenyan government agreed to rehat its forces under the AMISOM general command , and later announced in March 2012 that it would be sending 5 , 000 troops to join the coalition . Analysts expect the additional AU troop reinforcements to help the Somali authorities gradually expand their territorial control . Organization . Civil staff . The civilian staff of AMISOM has been operating from Nairobi , Kenya since 2008 due to the security situation in Mogadishu , Somalia . Since the beginning of 2011 AMISOM and TFG has taken control over several strategic places in Mogadishu after several offensives against Al - Shabaab . With the expanded control over the capital AMISOM on 16 May 2011 moved the civil staff and police officers to Mogadishu . This includes Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia ( SRCC ) Ambassador Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra and deputy ( SRCC ) Honourable Wafula Wamunyinyi . Much of the key logistical support for the force is provided by the United Nations Support Office for AMISOM ( UNSOA ) , a field mission of the UN Secretariat Department of Field Support . Training for contingents . The United States has provided extensive training for contingents headed for Somalia . In the first half of 2012 , Force Recon Marines from Special Purpose Marine Air - Ground Task Force 12 ( SPMAGTF - 12 ) trained soldiers from the Uganda People ' s Defence Force . In the northern spring of 2012 [ March – April – May ] , Marines from SPMAGTF - 12 also trained Burundian soldiers . In April and May , members of Task Force Raptor , 3rd Squadron , 124th Cavalry Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard , took part in a separate training mission with the BNDF in Mudubugu , Burundi . SPMAGTF - 12 has also sent its trainers to Djibouti , another nation involved in the Somali mission , to work with an army unit there . At the same time , U . S . troops have assisted in training the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces in preparation for their deployment to Somalia later this year . In June 2012 , U . S . Army Africa commander Major General David R . Hogg spoke encouragingly of the future of Sierra Leone ' s forces in conjunction with Kenya . As of June 2012 , the RSLAF troops have not yet deployed ; the Sierra Leonean defence minister said on June 23 , 2012 , that the battalion might depart for the Horn ' some time in September [ 2012 ] . ' In addition , a significant amount of support to AMISOM has been provided by private companies . " Bancroft Global Development , headquartered on Washington ' s Embassy Row , employs about 40 South African and European trainers who work with [ AMISOM ' s ] Ugandan and Burundian troops . Bancroft director Michael Stock told " The EastAfrican " that these mentors are embedded with AMISOM units in Mogadishu and southern and central Somalia . They coach commanders on . . how to predict and defeat the tactics which foreign fighters bring from outside East Africa and teach to al - Shabaab . " Bancroft " does not receive funding directly from the US government but is instead paid by AMISOM , which is then reimbursed by the State Department for these outlays . " The Associated Press reports that Bancroft has been paid $ 12 . 5 million for its work in Somalia since 2008 . A security analyst in Somalia listed three primary private security companies / private military companies operating in Mogadishu . DynCorp , who provide logistical support in the Somali capital ; Bancroft International , who provide training to TFG and AMISOM personnel , as well as assisting with community service delivery ; and Pacific Architects & Engineers . Deployment . Troops . In July 2012 , it was reported that Burundi had formed an engineer company to send to AMISOM .