Mogadishu-The African Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), are formulating new modalities to decentralize logistics support and pre-position stock at the Joint Logistics Operations Bases (JLOBs) in the mission.
The new modalities to guide the implementation of the new ATMIS Logistics Support Concept for efficient and timely service delivery in the sectors, were discussed during a logistics support deliverables workshop on Tuesday.
“This process is important because it will help to reduce bureaucracy. We need to know when and which activities should be implemented to fulfill the benchmarks of the mission,” said ATMIS Force Commander Lt. Gen. Diomede Ndegeya.
Lt. Gen. Ndegeya further expressed satisfaction with the role played by UNSOS ahead of the handing over of full security responsibilities to the Somalia Security Forces by the end of December 2024.
UNSOS Director, Harjit Dhindsa said the formulation of the new modalities is in line with the mandate of the UN Security Council Resolution 2628 which underscores the enhancement of the capacity and capabilities of ATMIS and the Somalia Security Forces (SSF).
“We had to adopt our support concept to the operations of ATMIS AND SSF. The ATMIS Concept of Operation (CoP) is based on mobile forces and quick reactions. The mobile operation has to be agile,” said Dhindsa.
“We also realized that 90 percent of the planning and execution of the operations happens at the sector level. So, we jointly decided to decentralize the whole logistics because we have a very effective sector headquarter,” the UNSOs Director added.
The workshop was a follow up to an earlier conference held in July 2022, where ATMIS and UNSOS deliberated on the tactical and logistical issues that are pertinent to the successful implementation of the ATMIS mandate.
Andrew Alele, who represented the ATMIS Ag. Head of Mission Support said that Standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be developed to ensure the decentralization and prepositioning of stocks is implemented with well-defined roles and responsibilities from Sector level to the UN regional administration offices. The process will be done in line with the AU, UN umbrella MOU he said.
ATMIS Chief Force Engineer, Colonel David Mwogu, emphasized the importance of decentralization of logistical support to fulfill the mandate of the mission.
“We are drawing down but it does not mean that we will weaken our capabilities. The more you draw down, the more your strength reduces, and the more you have to enhance your capabilities in order to enhance force protection and to be effective,” said Col. Mwogu, who represented the Deputy Force Commander Support and Logistics.
UNSOS provides logistical support to ATMIS forces to sustain operations to secure and hold key population centres, open up Main Supply Routes (MSR) and protect civilians. In line with the National Security Architecture, UNSOS also provides logistical support capabilities to Somali Security Forces to enable them carry out joint operations with ATMIS forces