Mogadishu, 6 June 2022 – The Burundi Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen. Prime Niyongabo is on a week-long official working visit to Somalia to meet with Somali authorities and African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) military commanders in order to see the progress made thus far in the fulfilment of the mission mandate.
Gen. Niyongabo visited the Burundi National Defence Forces (BNDF) contingent who are part of ATMIS forces based in Jowhar, Hirshabelle State to assess their conditions and interact with soldiers in the frontlines. He visited Mahaday, Adale, Qorilow and Maslah forward operating bases (FOBs) and met with ATMIS Sector 5 contingent commander Brig. Gen. Elie Ndizigiye.
The Burundi CDF arrived on 31 May and met with his Somali counterpart Brig. Gen. Odowaa Yusuf Rage and other senior Somali National Army (SNA) commanders. Gen. Niyongabo also paid a courtesy call to Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at the Presidential palace in Mogadishu, Villa Somalia, to congratulate the President on his re-election.
On his return to Mogadishu on Sunday from Jowhar, the Burundi CDF was received at the airport by ATMIS Force Commander Lt. Gen. Ndegeya before proceeding to ATMIS Force Headquarters where he inspected a guard of honour mounted by Sector 1 ATMIS Forces from Uganda. He then held a closed meeting with the ATMIS FC Lt. Gen. Ndegeya and other senior ATMIS commanders.
Speaking after leading ATMIS senior staff at force headquarters in planting trees at the AMISOM memorial ground as part of commemorations to mark World Environment Day, the General said he was happy to visit Somalia once again and urged Burundian forces to be good ambassadors.“As commander I have to visit troops to see how they are doing, how they are performing (in) the mission and this was the purpose of my visit; to visit the troops to see how they are doing and to encourage them to continue supporting the Somali National Army and forces and to respect all the rules of the mission,” Gen. Niyongabo said.
He reminded ATMIS forces to uphold mission goals of supporting Somali people regain peace.
“For ATMIS troops there is time to achieve the mission goals. I encourage them to perform their mission so that they can give peace to Somali people within the period of time given by AU and partners,” he added.