Mogadishu, 16 February 2017 – The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira, yesterday led a high level delegation to Somali National University (SNU) to assess progress made in renovating the institution ahead of its official handover to the Federal Government of Somalia.
The educational institution has been the headquarters of the Burundian National Defence Forces (BNDF) for the past decade, before a decision was made to handover the facility to the Federal Government of Somalia. The Burundian troops, serving under African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), relocated their headquarters to Jowhar, the administrative capital of HirShabelle state.
The delegation comprised senior AMISOM officials who included the Deputy SRCC, Lydia Wanyoto; Engineer, Andrew Alele; Sector One Commander Brig. Kayanja Muhanga and personnel from the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS).
The team was received by Col. Venant Sambaganya of the BNDF, who briefed the SRCC on the status of the ongoing renovation work, which commenced mid last year. The SRCC and his delegation were later taken on a guided tour of the facility by Engineer Alele.
Speaking after the tour, Ambassador Madeira who was impressed with the progress made, noted that AMISOM was ready to vacate the educational institution, having inflicted a heavy blow on Al-Shabaab and ejecting them from key areas in the country.
“Now that we have succeeded in pushing Al-Shabaab to the remote areas, we are in a position to vacate this institution and go where proper barracks have been built, where we can confront the Al-Shabaab more efficiently. This act in itself is a strong statement that we are winning this war,” Ambassador Madeira who is also the Head of Mission observed.
AMISOM, with the support of UNSOS, is sprucing up the campus, leveling the university grounds and renovating buildings, which include 39 permanent structures, constructed by the mission.
“I am happy that you did not just come here and use infrastructure that you found but you built new infrastructure which Somalis will find extremely useful. Even though the place looks bushy and there are still some areas that need to be leveled, it is clear that if the Ministry of Education decided to open a university here, they will have the infrastructure to start with,” the SRCC added.
Ambassador Madeira, however, called for the speedy completion of the renovation work to pave way for the handover of the facility. “There is still some work to be done. I will appreciate if the work is done as quickly as possible so that what needs to be taken to Jowhar is taken there to enable us set a date when we can formally handover this infrastructure to the Somali authorities,” Ambassador Madeira observed.
He reiterated AMISOM’s commitment to continue pursuing and degrading Al-Shabaab and ensuring peace and stability return to Somalia.
“We will go on. We will go northeast and take the remaining strongholds of the Al-Shabaab there, and then we will come down to Lower Jubba and take Jilib, Jamaame, Saakow and Bu’aale. We will not stop there. We will be pursuing, harassing, degrading and eventually disrupting and destroying Al-Shabaab and we will do this together with the SNA (Somali National Army),” he explained.
The BNDF troops have been vacating the institution in phases and setting up base in Jowhar as work continues at the university to ensure it is handed back in a good condition.
