Sunday July 2, 2023
Mogadishu (HOL) - Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, along with other government officials, attended a public gathering at Mogadishu Stadium to commemorate Somalia's 63rd Independence and Unity Day on Saturday.
Somalia's southern provinces gained independence from Italy in 1960 after years of struggle. The northern regions, now Somaliland, achieved independence from Britain on June 26, 1960, and four days later, on July 1, united with the South to form the Republic of Somalia.
During his address, President Mohamud highlighted the ongoing fight against terrorism and the state-building efforts. He also stressed the significant role played by the country's northern region in the unification.
"The terrorists who invaded the country as a painful colonial force that has crippled the lives of the Somali people massacred their loved ones, and distorted their religion, citing an example of how the terrorists destroyed local mosques and places where the Holy Quran was kept in Daru Nicma," Mohamed said.
The President expressed hope for the second phase of the operation against terrorism to be carried out in every part of the country, demonstrating the hostility of the terrorists towards the Somali people.
He further emphasized that the African Union forces had handed over Forward Operating Bases to the Somali National Army, indicating Somalia's progress towards taking security responsibility from the AU. President Mohamud expressed confidence that the country will achieve self-reliance in terms of security and peace by the end of the next year."Our brothers and sisters from African Union were here
for past 16 years trying help as achieve peace and stability, that mission is
now accomplished, we want to give them olive branches and say thank you
brothers and sisters for sacrifice as they withdraw by end of next year," Mohamud added.
The African Union (AU) Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) said on Thursday that it had completed the first phase of troop withdrawal from Somalia with the handover of military bases in the capital of Mogadishu and the southern region.
ATMIS said Mogadishu's Aljazeera One training military base and Jubaland State's Geriley base, located in southern Somalia, were handed over to the Somali security forces on Thursday.
ATMIS is expected to withdraw 2,000 troops by the end of June and another 3,000 by September in compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2628 and 2670, which mandates ATMIS to also hand over security responsibilities in agreed areas to Somali security forces.