Representatives of the State of Qatar, the Republic of Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America met in Washington, D.C. recently for the seventh meeting of the Somalia Quint. Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), representatives were not excluded.
Quint partners affirmed solid support for the Federal Republic of Somalia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity, reiterating the need to reduce regional tensions through dialogue, including Turkish-sponsored mediation efforts.
Discussion was also along the imperative of focusing on shared economic and security objectives, particularly to address ongoing and emerging threats from terrorist groups in the Horn of Africa.
The partners expressed support for FGS efforts to generate capable, professional and accountable security forces and defense institutions. It was agreed by partners to take steps to improve coordination of international training to facilitate more effective near-term operations and to assist the FGS to develop a long-term training capability.
The Quint discussed the urgent need to finalize plans for the new African Union Stabilization and Support Mission in Somalia to follow the end of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia. They noted the importance of ensuring broad stakeholder input into the planning process, including from troop contributors, to produce a mission with feasible and resource-informed goals and tasks & a clear exit strategy synchronized with Somalia’s security sector capacity-building.
Partners also discussed the urgency of finalizing funding options for the new mission.
Finally, Quint partners reaffirmed the importance of stabilization planning for sustainable military gains, through more effective incorporation of governance, humanitarian and hold force planning into military operations.
The Quint agreed to reconvene in Mogadishu for an eighth meeting.
