African Union Mission To Somalia - Origin of The Mission

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.