The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) has paused the drawdown of its troops from Somalia.
ATMIS reduced its forces in Somalia by 2,000 as of June 30, 2023.
It was then expected to reduce this number further by as much as 3,000 by the end of September of last year.
However, this was later postponed to the end of December 2023.
Both drawdowns were expected to take the entire population of ATMIS troops in Somalia to 14,626.
Nevertheless, there have been no reports of further drawdowns.
ATMIS has until December 31, 2024 to withdraw its entire force from the East African nation.
With the pause in drawdowns, there are concerns whether Somalia is capable of taking over the security responsibility from ATMIS.