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Dangerous patch: damage after a terrorist attack by the Islamist militia Al-Shabaab at Mogadishu airport on May 11
Photo: SAID YUSUF WARSAME/EPA
The operation is comparatively small, but the symbolic power is all the greater: the USA wants to station soldiers in Somalia again in the fight against the Islamist terrorist group Al-Shabaab.
As a high-ranking representative of the US government announced in a telephone switchboard with journalists on Monday, the withdrawal from the East African country ordered by President Joe Biden's predecessor Donald Trump at the end of 2020 will be reversed.
The reason is that Al-Shabaab has regained strength since the US withdrawal.
After the withdrawal, US special forces were repeatedly on rotating missions in the country.
Now there will be permanent stationing again.
The number of soldiers will be less than 500 and thus below the level before the withdrawal.
The US troops should therefore train Somali units and support them in the fight against terrorists.
Trumps decided to withdraw from Somalia after Biden's election victory
The Sunni terrorist group Al-Shabaab has been fighting for supremacy in the country on the Horn of Africa for years.
Republican Trump had ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Somalia in his last few weeks in office - after his election defeat by Democrat Biden.
Around 750 US soldiers there supported the Somali government and the local security forces in the fight against Al-Shabaab.
A problem with the rotating assignments was the entry and exit associated with them, which created an "unnecessary and increased risk".
The US official said al-Shabaab has become the largest and wealthiest ally of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
The terrorist organization has been responsible for the deaths of more than a dozen Americans in Africa in recent years.
Biden is following a recommendation from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin by redeploying US soldiers.
fek/dpa/Reuters
