Peter M. Wagner, Head of the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), visited Somalia this week to attend the first Steering Committee on the European Peace Facility’s support to the Somali National Army.
During his first visit to Somalia Peter M. Wagner met with the Somali authorities, implementing actors and partners of projects and actions funded under the European Peace Facility (EPF) and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)-Global Europe, Crisis response pillar.
On 14 March 2023 he participated in the very first Steering Committee on the EPF support to the Somali National Army (SNA) together with the Minister of Defence Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur and of the Chief of Defence Forces of the Federal Government of Somalia General Odawa Yusuf. On this occasion, a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate cooperation on EU-funded projects was signed between the Ministry of Defence and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which is implementing the support. UNOPS was represented by Country Director a.i. Sayed Mohamad Farooqui.
Since 1 January 2022, the European Union provided EUR 20 million under the EPF, for which FPI acts as administrator for assistance measures, to enhance the capacities of the SNA. The support focuses on the provision of non-lethal equipment and on infrastructure works, in close coordination with the European Union Training Mission in Somalia (EUTM-S).
On 2 March 2023, EU Member States agreed to provide an additional support package of EUR 25 million for the SNA, with activities expected to start by mid-2023. It will further strengthen the current support to the armed forces. EU Member States also agreed on an additional financial package for the military component of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) in 2023 for EUR 85 million, in addition to previous support under the EPF amounting to EUR 185 million for the years 2021-2022. Both actions aim at contributing to the handover of security responsibilities from ATMIS to the SNA, in line with relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and with the Somali Transition Plan.
The support to the military component of ATMIS and to the SNA are financed under the EPF’s Assistance Measure for support to the African Union, worth EUR 600 million for the period 2022-2024.
FPI is also helping Somalia with crisis response, conflict prevention and peace building actions for an amount of EUR 37 million, covering notably rapid stabilisation in fragile and newly recovered areas under NDICI-Global Europe.
