Al-Shabaab Carries Out Heavy Attack On Uganda Mission Base

The military command of the Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen group issued a statement on Friday (May 26), declaring the raid by militants of the group on the Ugandan military forces’ ATMIS base on the outskirts of Buulo Mareer town in the Lower Shabelle region.

In accordance with the group’s claim, the attack took place in the morning of the day, which left more than 200 Ugandan troops dead. The Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen’s militants also demolished several tanks and military vehicles belonging to Ugandan forces and seized a large amount of ammunition from the ATMIS base. The militants of the Harakat Al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen also captured a number of Ugandan troops.

It is worth mentioning that following the intensification of confrontations in Somalia in 2007, the African Union dispatched a collection dubbed the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) forces, consisting of elite forces from six countries, including Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Sierra Leone, to be stationed in Somalia.

The AMISOM forces are still present in Somalia and they assist the Somalian government forces in their struggle against the Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen militants. As a result of differences between the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) over the AMISOM’s activities in Somalia, the European Union reduced its support for the mission of the African Union Mission to Somalia.

In 2021, it was determined that another organization dubbed the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) would gradually replace the AMISOM in Somalia.

It should be mentioned that the Ugandan forces were previously part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and are currently part of ATMIS the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) with 6,700 personnel in capital Mogadishu and Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia as well as on the Indian Ocean coastal areas.