Somalia-Frontline States Summit 2023 concluded in Mogadishu by defenceweb
Diplomat Times (Mogadishu) – This week Wednesday, 1 February saw a Somalia/Frontline States summit in Mogadishu convened in the wake of ongoing targeted and sustained campaign by the Somali Security Forces (SSF) aimed at degrading the capability of terrorist groups according to Kenya’s Ministry of Defense.
Current operations in Somalia, with ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) and SSF in the forefront are directed at “diminishing” al-Shabaab operational capability and “building on the rejection of the terror group by the Somali public”.
Current operations in Somalia, with ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) and SSF in the forefront are directed at “diminishing” al-Shabaab operational capability and “building on the rejection of the terror group by the Somali public”.
The summit, attended by senior and, in some instances presidents, of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, reviewed conclusions reached by a conclave of defense minister and defense force chiefs from the four countries on the importance of coordinated and timely technical, logistical, intelligence and operational support to ongoing anti-terror operations with the Somali National Army (SNA).
During the summit, leaders present agreed to make a final push for joint operations in the areas still under terrorist control to “completely liberate the whole of Somalia from Al-Shabaab”. This, in turn, will facilitate the drawdown of ATMIS troops and gradual handover of security responsibilities to the SSD. The leaders applauded “significant progress” in Somalia with more regions recovered by SSF in conjunction with ATMIS troops.
“They (the leaders) were all in common agreement on progress to rebuild and modernize Somalia’s security forces through unified efforts of force generation, capability development and support with firepower and multipliers,” the Kenya statement said.
Somali leaders want lethal and non-lethal support to equip the new SNA units and enhance the firepower of current SNA operational units the summit heard in addition to endorsing the East African country’s “quest to completely lift an arms embargo by the end of 2023”.
The Summit, the Kenya Defense Ministry statement has it, came at a crucial moment as security forces in Somalia continue to liberate more areas that have been under Al-Shabaab to enable the federal government to enhance service delivery and extend its authority. The importance of establishing a joint border security mechanism to eliminate cross-border terrorism activities and ensure legal passage of trade and movement was stressed.
History of Frontline States
The Frontline States (FLS) were a loose coalition of African countries from the 1960s to the early 1990s committed to ending apartheid and white minority rule in South Africa and Rhodesia.
The FLS included Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The FLS disbanded after Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa in 1994.
In April 1975, the Frontline States – then consisting of Botswana, Lesotho, Tanzania and Zambia – were formally recognized as an entity as a committee of the Assembly of the Heads of State of the Organization of African Unity. They were joined by Angola (1975), Mozambique (1975) and Zimbabwe (1980) when those countries gained their independence. Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere was the chairman until he retired in 1985. His successor was Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda. The countries met regularly to coordinate their policies.
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Their mission was complicated by the fact that the economies of nearly all the FLS countries were dependent on South Africa, and many of their citizens worked there.[4] Nevertheless, the FLS supported and sheltered groups opposed to white rule, not only in South Africa (the African National Congress), but also in Namibia (SWAPO), which was controlled by South Africa. These states provided asylum for exiled South African political activists and allowed the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) to set up headquarters within their borders.[citation needed] The ANC was declared as the official representative of the South African People by the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity whilst its headquarters was officially in Lusaka. Thousands of South African youth traveled to these states to receive training in sabotage and guerrilla warfare.[citation needed] The Frontline States suffered greatly for their opposition and became the target of South Africa’s policy of regional destabilization; South Africa launched military incursions in Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and supported rebel groups seeking to topple the regimes in Angola (UNITA) and Mozambique (RENAMO).
American relations with the Frontline States reached their peak during the human rights push of the Carter administration.[6] Under the Reagan administration’s Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker, the Frontline States were engaged diplomatically to reach landmark peace accords between South Africa, Mozambique, Angola (Lusaka Protocol), and Namibia (New York Accords).
