The UK is set to gift a compound at Mogadishu International Airport, previously known as Operating Base SHAND, to the African Union support and stabilisation mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
In a written statement to Parliament on 5 February, Minister for the Armed Forces Al Carns said a departmental minute had been laid before the House of Commons outlining the proposed transfer, in line with procedures governing gifts valued above £300,000.
Carns said Operating Base SHAND was originally commissioned in 2017 to support a three-year deployment to the United Nations Support Office in Somalia, known as Operation CATAN, which was announced in 2015 and ended in March 2019.
Since then, the base has continued to serve as the primary UK operating location in Somalia. However, Carns said the compound now exceeds the UK’s accommodation requirements.
He described AUSSOM as a “multidimensional African Union-led peace support mission approved by the United Nations,” with a focus on stabilisation, security and state-building, and an objective to transfer full security responsibility to Somali forces by December 2029.
Carns also said the UK has contributed “nearly $140 million (£102.5 million)” to AUSSOM and its predecessor mission since 2021, as part of what he described as the UK’s broader commitment to African-led peace initiatives. The minister said the Treasury has approved the proposal in principle, but under parliamentary procedure final approval will be withheld for 14 sitting days to allow MPs an opportunity to raise objections.
Image Harriet Mathews, Director General Africa and the Americas at @FCDOGovUK, via X.
Well we won’t miss this one but can we keep Chagos? Starmers reasoning behind this surrender is unfathomable! The Chagos Islanders want to remain British, the Mauritians have never really owned them and have no infrastructure to service and defend them and we are to pay out billions of pounds for what we basically have rent free at present! Does this deal make any sense or are am I missing something? Genuine query
Hi Geoff your missing the entire body of international law (that we wrote) and several legal cases that have gone against us as well as UN votes. While we can veto any UN resolution we can’t change British law. Mauritius will eventually win the case under the law of the sea and then it will be able to launch a series of legal actions against us. Eventually any company servicing the base will face legal action and will have to cut ties. It will take a number of years but eventually Mauritius will win and the US presence will be removed. In the interim there will be no legal way to stop Chinese, Indian and Russia ships from approaching right up to the island (we do the same to them in Crimea and the South China Sea)
The views of 3000 British citizens living in Crawley is completely irrelevant from an international and legal standpoint. If the Chagosians want a right to self determination they need to petition Mauritius for it but they can only do that to be independent, Not to then suddenly want to be a British territory again and continue living in Sussex (That’s exactly what the people in Crimea did and that was illegal).
Come again???? Completely incorrfect
Arguably it is correct, just missing wider context and associated assumptions. For a base of such importance, the issue of legality from the sovereignty of the base to contractor operations can be overcome by a willing, assertive American policy that uses it weight in international organisations or soft power to exert a broader stake to the island. The legal battle is pretty much over, so now that assertive American power might come in handy for shutting up certain stakeholders, a legal mechanism only gets you so far when your option to take it by force is obviously not going to end well.
Indeed you are spot on, the laws of the sea and international law and the UN are rapidly becoming almost irrelevant to New World Order inter Governmental machinations now since this old world order environment agreement was signed. Russia, China most of the dodgy regimes (only encouraged now) and of course the US don’t give a damn about all these old world order institutions. Indeed one only has to look at Guantanamo Bay to judge how likely it would be that the US would be ‘made’ by international institutions or law to get out of a base it sees as crucial. And that was before Trump and his extremist acolytes gained such a power base which may persist. We might be influenced by such matters but beyond what exists of the ‘West’ few others will see matters as anything but influenced by threat, power and transactional in nature.
That’s total rubbish when the US reserves the right to do as it pleases to protect its interests
As we should do if the country wasn’t run by damned solicitors
Yeah, that’s all well and good, when you have economic and geopolitical clout of the USA. The UK doesn’t, and when we start acting like we do, it makes life far more difficult for those Britons and British companies to operate abroad.
True. Which is why when I hear people spout delusion like ‘we need a Trump here’ I just see people who clearly still think we run the World. Our wiggle room is sorely limited even if we don’t make it easy for ourselves. In terms of the Chagos islands mind it’s more an example of an anti colonialist majority generally and our own initial stupidity in including it in original Mauritian independence and previously ruling them from Mauritius as did the French for convenience, which empowered that, than any actual Mauritian right to control the islands which in reality is limited to their fishermen fishing in waters near the islands. So the law is effectively using historical colonial institutions to enforce de-colonisation while ignoring the rights of the actual islanders who were the origin of the legal manoeuvres.
Eh, if it’s not replaced we will miss it, not so much for what it provided in Mog, but as support for wider Somalia operations. The real question is whether or where the replacement for the SHAND will be located.
Of course, meanwhile, did you see that Red Beret in the middle of the fot?
Now, that was worth getting excited about 😉
Never heard of ‘SHAND’ although, most press about African Union forces is, in general, not positive; and given how Nigeria is doing in its own country, is it surprising? With your finger on the… pulse… 😉 any good news?
AMISOM/ATMIS/AUSSOM (pick your name) doesn’t include Nigeria, so that’s good news. It’s built mostly around Ugandan/Kenyan/Ethiopian/Burundian forces with Egypt recently joining AUSSOM. There are also EU (mainly Italian), American, British and Turkish operations going on. When you add in the various national police forces and PMC’s the Mogadishu International Zone was probably one of the most multicultural districts on the planet.
But Somalia has been for the African Union very much what Afghan was for NATO. They pretty much beat the snot out of Al-Shabab after the Battle of Mogadishu in 2011, and the AMSIOM march on Kismayo. With the exception of the Battle of Janale, AMISOM has generally been sitting very secure in it’s FOB’s and generally controls the cities, but AMSIOM and SNA Patrols are under constant IED threat, Mortar Shoot and Scoots are common, and patrols being ambushed in small arms firefights are not uncommon. IMO Al-Shabab generally targets SNA more than AUSSOM forces. They are easier pickings, why tangle with an Ethiopian Armoured Brigade that can bring T-64’s down on you if you can instead jump an SNA force that holds belt fed weapons at Battalion level?
I’m not surprised that the SHAND isn’t something you’ve heard about, but it’s basically synonymous with OP Tangham so in general if you hear OP Tangham think “the SHAND.” (The force laydown is more complicated but I won’t go into that).
You’ve done it again, FFS!
Filled a huge knowledge gap in my, and I would suggest many other readers on here who had no idea about this topic…
Thank you Dern
Your welcome.
I do have an advantage in this particular field over most tbf!
I must admit, I wasn’t aware of this place at all.
Assume SOTF and DSF operate from elsewhere when in country.
I’d suggest you might be correct. The SHAND is a very location as a rear support base however. It’s also close to the UK Embassy and the Somali authorities so it always makes having a friendly meeting over coffee easy.
I doesn’t really matter. At some point in the future the US will take it for themselves. And frankly, good luck to them.
The US don’t need it, they have a large enough footprint in both Mog and Somalia in general for their purposes already.
You are right about that. I was referring to the Chagos. Pure speculation, but it seems like anything can happen at the moment. And give it a few years and what seems outlandish now might become normal.
Ah yeah fair enough.