Drone strikes by the United States military in Somalia are “wiping out” militants in Somalia, the head of the African Union mission in the country said on Friday.
Francisco Madeira, African Union Special Representative for Somalia and the head of the 22,000-strong AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), made the remarks during an interview with the AFP news agency on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa.
“These drone attacks and others are wiping out al-Shabaab in good numbers. And that is good to finish with the terrorism,” he said.
The U.S. stepped up its operations against the al-Shabaab extremist group in the Horn of African country, aiming to crush the militants.
Al-Shabaab has waged a decade-long war in Somalia, aiming to topple the government and instill an extreme sharia-based system of governance.
The war has killed thousands and displaced millions, crippling the country’s development agenda.
In recent months, US special forces and the Somali national army have killed scores in air strikes and ground assaults targeting al-Shabaab, including a Christmas Eve strike that left 13 dead.
The surge in activity comes after President Donald Trump last year loosened constraints on the US military in Somalia, allowing commanders to take action against suspected terrorists when they judge it is needed, without seeking specific White House approval.
Madeira also said that an extension of the AMISOM was a possibility, noting that the formation of a fully functional Somali army might take longer than anticipated.
“The formation of a fully-fledged, functioning… Somali National Army, it might take a bit longer than that. But we can already have some critical mass of forces that can do the work,” he said.
The mission’s mandate is scheduled to end in 2020.
