African Union forces to review tactics against Al-Shabaab

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said on Friday that it plans to have meetings next week to review its tactics against the Al-Shabaab militant group.

The Head of AMISOM Francisco Madeira told a media briefing in Nairobi that the meetings will be conducted in order to revise AMISOM's concept of operations.

"During the meeting, we will develop a plan on how best AMISOM can fulfill its mandate of liberating Somalia from the threat of Al-Shabaab," Madeira said.

"We will also discuss how best to degrade and destroy Al-Shabaab's fighting capacity," he said. The AMISOM official said that it is not enough to remove Al-Shabaab from cities and towns.

"We also have to flash out the Al-Shabaab from their remaining hideouts," he said. Earlier in February, the Head of States of the troop contributing countries of AMISOM met in Djibouti to agree on the best ways to defeat the Al-Shabaab.

Madeira said that some of the decisions agreed upon have been implemented. "The issue of command and control as well as better coordination have been tackled," he said.

Madeira, who is also the African Union Special Representative for Somalia (SSRC) said that the troop contributing countries have agreed to boost the capacity of their armed forces in Somali.

"Kenya and Ethiopia have agreed to contribute helicopters in order improve flexibility against Al-Shabaab," he said. Somalia is slated to hold elections in August.

"The Somali leaders have agreed on the technical and political bodies to oversee the elections in manner that the election can be credible," Madeira added.

In the 2012 Somalia's general elections, the Members of Parliament elected by elders.

"However, in 2016 each MP will be elected by 51 voters and we consider this to a step in the right direction considering that Somali is coming from a deep crisis," the SSRC said.

He noted that Somalia should have a fully fledged electoral process of one person one vote by 2020. Endit