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).