It is a pivotal month for the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (Aussom) as it ends a crisis-plagued first year of its five-year mandate, with the United Nations Security Council set to reauthorise its stay in the Horn of Africa nation.

This decision, experts say, throws the mission into the deep end, dealing with the ever-present security threat, amid an increasing logistical and funding crisis that will further impact the force’s operational capabilities.

As the AU navigates choppy waters to keep its mission in Somalia afloat, all eyes are the European Union as it emerges that the continental body’s recent engagements with Brussels, and ongoing discussions among the bloc’s member states could see a significant injection of cash into Aussom.

This week, EU Special Representative to the Horn of Africa Annette Weber flew back to Brussels after high-stakes meetings in Mogadishu, where she held talks with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on December 2, after meeting with Aussom Force Commander Lt-Gen Sam Kavuma on November 30.

In her meeting with Lt-Gen Kavuma, Ms Weber discussed Aussom’s funding crisis and acknowledged that unless resolved, it will impact the force’s sustained operational effectiveness in supporting Somali-led security priorities and antiAl-Shabaab operations.

According to Security Council Report, Aussom personnel have been operating without allowances for more than a year and this could lead to low morale among troops and a risk of some personnel having to leave the mission.

Some Ugandan soldiers who have just returned from Somalia told The EastAfrican that the cash crunch is affecting the new mission, which demands more and has taken a toll on the troops fighting to recapture lost territory.“It’s true, we rotated [out of the mission] without pay,” said one recent returnee. “We know our pan-African assignment is to degrade al-Shabaab and liberate our Somali brothers, but being in that heat for 18 months, fighting wars and losing colleagues without pay is hard to take.”This situation caps a rocky first full year for the force, whose mission and deployment in Somalia for another four years hinges on the African Union and donors quickly raising $832.3 million for troop reimbursements.

Among the traditional donors –US, UK and EU – only London has come forward, while the Trump administration slammed the door shut on the AU mission and even threatened to block the move to fund 75 percent of Aussom’s budget through UN-assessed contributions under Resolution 2719 for UN-led peacekeeping missions.

Aussom’s budget for troop allowances alone for a full year is $166.5 million.

Even as discussions in Brussels continue, it is not clear how much the EU is likely to commit for Aussom, which is on life support -- $20 million sourced from the AU’s Peace Fund and UK’s $22 million announced in September this year.

Also, China, Japan and South Korea pledged funds earlier this year, while Italy and Spain in September became the latest donors to promise unspecified amounts for the AU mission in Somalia.

Reports indicate that the EU has provisionally earmarked €60 million ($70 million) in the European Peace Facility, meant for support to Somalia, but this amount is to be split between Aussom and the Somali National Armed Forces.

Since 2007, the EU has spent about €2.7 million ($3.15 million) on the AU missions in Somalia, to foot the troops’ reimbursements budget.

During the seventh AU-EU Summit in Luanda on November 24-25, 2025, it became clear that as the push to trigger UNSC Resolution 2719 as the main funding source remains a dead-end, the existing funds and the anticipated cash from Brussels was the key to addressing the crisis.

The UNSC will reauthorise and fully operationalise Aussom, but at the same time, the peacekeeping force’s uniformed personnel will reduce to 11,826 per an AU Peace and Security Council decision to drawdown 800 troops in excess of mission strength by the end of December 2025.

Simon Mulongo, a diplomat and former Deputy Head of Atmis – the predecessor of Aussom – argues that having the same territory to defend with fewer boots on the ground against a constant Al-Shabaab threat is a major challenge.

Aussom was approved by the AUPSC on August 1, 2024, and subsequently authorised by the UNSC on December 27, 2024, to deploy 12,626 uniformed personnel, including 680 police personnel, under Resolution 2767, for the mission’s first phase from January 1, 2025, till June 30, 2025.

But the AU has maintained this number – which includes 800 troops in excess of the mission strength set out in the Concept of Operations – into phase two of Aussom, for 12 months.

Amid these challenges, the AUPSC will convene on Monday to deliberate full operationalisation of the mission in Somalia, and forward its consideration to the UNSC, which will later this month vote to reauthorise Aussom and on the draft resolution to renew sanctions on Al-Shabaab.

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