US military presence in Somalia likely to be scrutinized by incoming Trump administration
By JOHN VANDIVER STARS AND STRIPES •
December 30, 2024
U.S. troops returned to Somalia in 2022 in an advisory capacity, two years after then-President Donald Trump pulled hundreds of U.S. service members out of the country. (Bobby Dixon/U.S. Navy) STUTTGART, Germany — One of President-elect Donald Trump’s last actions during his first term was pulling all U.S. forces out of Somalia, a move that could be back on the table in a second term that carries the potential for a broader scaling-back of military activities on the continent.
Of all of U.S. Africa Command’s missions, its campaign in Somalia is likely to come under a microscope soonest, said J. Peter Pham, who served as special envoy to Africa’s volatile Sahel region during Trump’s first term. “I would expect that President Trump will want to reverse course and restore things to where he intended at the end of 2020,” Pham said Sunday.
Pham said current conditions in Somalia, where a decades-long conflict between Islamic militants and a weak central government continues to play out, justify pulling out U.S. forces once again.
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https://www.stripes.com/theaters/africa/2024-12-30/africom-trump-somalia-16322045.htmlSource - Stars and Stripes
