STORY: AMISOM to aid HirShabelle overcome security

challenges
DURATION: 3:39
SOURCE: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
RESTRICTIONS: This media asset is free for editorial
broadcast, print, online and radio use. It is not to be sold
on and is restricted for other purposes. All enquiries to
thenewsroom@auunist.org
CREDIT REQUIRED: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 13/MARCH/2018, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

SHOT LIST:

1. Wide shot, Ambassador Francisco Madeira, Special Representative of the

Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia welcoming
HirShabelle President Mohamed Abdi Waare for a meeting
2. Med shot, SRCC Ambassador Madeira and other AMISOM senior officials
3. Med shot, SRCC Ambassador Madeira and his deputy Simon Mulongo at the
meeting
4. Med shot, HirShabelle President Mohamed Abdi Waare at the meeting
5. Wide shot, SRCC Ambassador Madeira, HirShabelle President Mohamed Abdi
Waare and HirShabelle ministers in a meeting
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Francisco Madeira, Special Representative of
the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia
“We discussed the details of the transition and saw where the transition needs to be
strengthened, the plan needs to be strengthened, what we think regional forces can
contribute and the importance of regional forces in securing these MSRs side-by-side
with AMISOM and with the Somali national security forces.”

7. Close up shot, Mohamed Abdi Waare, HirShabelle President listening to SRCC

Ambassador Madeira
8. Close up shot, SRCC Ambassador Madeira speaking
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Francisco Madeira, Special Representative of
the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia
“The (is) need to bring in other components of stabilization like institutions of
governance, institutions and administrators and the civil affairs officers,
humanitarian agencies and police as well as other law and order institutions in that
regional state as important component and ingredients for a stabilized HirShabelle.”

10. Med shot, Mohamed Abdi Waare, HirShabelle President speaking at the meeting
11. Close up shot, Simon Mulongo, Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson
of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia listening
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Abdi Waare, President of HirShabelle State
“AMISOM is important to us in our daily lives, helping us to tackle these challenges in
HirShabelle. On behalf of the people of HirShabelle I want to offer our heartfelt
condolences on the incident in Balad on March 2, 2018 in which soldiers from the
Burundian contingent escorting a logistics convoy was ambushed.”

13. Med shot, SRCC Ambassador Madeira and HirShabelle President, Mohamed Abdi
Waare, shaking hands
14. Med shot, HirShabelle President, Mohamed Abdi Waare, shaking hands with Maj.
General Jim Owoyesigire, AMISOM Force Commander
15. Close up shot, HirShabelle President, Mohamed Abdi Waare, in a meeting with
Maj. General Jim Owoyesigire, AMISOM Force Commander
16. Wide shot, HirShabelle President, Mohamed Abdi Waare, in a meeting with Maj.
General Jim Owoyesigire, AMISOM Force Commander
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Abdi Waare, President of HirShabelle State
“It has been a great pleasure and great opportunity to come and pay a visit to the
new Force Commander. It’s the first time for me to pay a courtesy call to him and to
brief him on the situation in our sector in HirShabelle. And we had a very good
discussion on how to reinvigorate the fight against Al-Shabaab and the opening of
MSRs (Main Supply Routes) in HirShabelle.”

AMISOM to aid HirShabelle overcome security challenges

Mogadishu, 13 March 2018 - The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the

African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia Ambassador Francisco Madeira today
held discussions with the President of HirShabelle state Mohamed Abdi Waare on
the security transition plan by the regional peacekeeping force and how to intensify
the war against the terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

The meeting comes in the wake of an attack by Al-Shabaab militants on an AMISOM

convoy escorting civilian trucks carrying humanitarian supplies from Mogadishu to
Jowhar early, this month. The militants also destroyed three civilian trucks, using
improvised explosive devices, before they were repulsed by AMISOM soldiers.

Speaking after the discussions, in Mogadishu, Ambassador Madeira who is also the
head of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said he was conversant with
the challenges that faced HirShabelle, the youngest of Somalia’s five federal states.

Some of the challenges include opening up the Main Supply Routes (Mogadishu-
Balad-Jowhar-Beletweyne) and helping the state set up administrative structures in
liberated areas.

“We discussed the details of the transition and saw where the transition needs to be
strengthened, what we think regional forces can contribute and the importance of
regional forces in securing these MSRs side-by-side with AMISOM and with the
Somali national security forces,” he noted.
Ambassador Madeira who was accompanied by the Mission’s senior staff including
his deputy, Simon Mulongo, said the peacekeeping force would work closely with
the regional state to bring stability by setting up governance structures in areas
AMISOM had liberated.

The SRCC observed there was “need to bring in other components of stabilization
like institutions of governance, administrators and the civil affairs officers,
humanitarian agencies and police as well as other law and order institutions,” to
help stabilize the state.

President Waare praised the role AMISOM had played in liberating parts of
HirShabelle and regretted the attack on AMISOM soldiers.

“AMISOM is important to us in our daily lives, helping us to tackle these challenges in

HirShabelle,” the President adding; “On behalf of the people of HirShabelle I want to
offer our heartfelt condolences on the incident in Balad on March 2, 2018, in which
soldiers from the Burundian contingent escorting a logistics convoy was ambushed.”

The HirShabelle leader later paid a courtesy call on the AMISOM Force Commander,
Lt. Gen. Jim Beesigye Owoyesigire, at his office. The two discussed a number of
issues, touching on security in the region and the country in general.

“It has been a great pleasure and great opportunity to come and pay a visit to the
new Force Commander. It’s the first time for me to pay a courtesy call to him and to
brief him on the situation in our sector in HirShabelle,” President Waare said.

He added that the discussions also focused on reinvigorating the fight against Al-
Shabaab and the opening of MSRs in HirShabelle.

Present at the meeting was Mr. Mulongo and the HirShabelle Minister of Internal
Security, Abdulkadir Adan Jelle.