Sunday January 23, 2022 
ADDIS ABABA (HOL) - An African Union-led body will succeed AMISOM with a two-year mandate to hand over security responsibilities to Somali Security forces, Somalia and the African Union have resolved.
According to an agreement entered into by the two parties following talks between January 7 and 21, Amisom will be succeeded by African Union Transitional Mission to Somalia (ATMIS).
The new security force, the two sides agreed, will take the form and shape of AMISOM but with a mandate to set the ground for the handover of security responsibilities to SSF by December 2023.
The timelines are based on the revised Somalia Transitional Plan which envisages the assumption of responsibilities by the end of next year.
“ATMIS shall have a clear command and control structure with empowered Force Headquarters having OPCOM (Operation Command) over the Forces to ensure strategic coherence with the implementation of the STP,” the agreement read in part.
The agreement also indicates that the ATMIS force commander will be drawn from the country with the highest number of forces and that forces from other countries besides the current five-member states will be welcome.
The new agreement departs from an earlier proposal from the African Union for hybrid stabilization forces drawing support from both the African Union and the UN. Somalia however rejected the proposal noting any new force must conform with its STP.