African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is to remain in Somalia beyond 2021.
This emerged after African Union (AU) and the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) signed a new agreement this week.
The two sides signed the agreement after two days of negotiations.
AMISOM was scheduled to pull its troops out of Somalia by the end of this year.
However, the new agreement now allows the AMISOM forces to remain in the East African nation past this year.
Fiona Lortan, Acting Director of Conflict Management at the AU Political Affairs, Peace, and Security Department confirmed this latest development.
Lortan led the AU delegation at the discussions that led to the agreement signed on August 19.
The Somali team was under the leadership of Hassan Hussein Haji, the country’s Minister of Defense.