EU offers €124m for AU mission in Somalia

The EU Monday announced that it will provide additional support of more than 124 million euro to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). This new financial support by the EU will cover costs including troop allowances for all AMISOM soldiers, police and civilian components of the mission, as well as operational costs of the mission headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, noted an EU statement. This new funding will cover the period of 1 June to 31 December 2013 and bring the overall EU contribution to AMISOM to almost 600 million euro. EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said in a statement that "AMISOM and the Somali National Forces, with the support of the European Union, have succeeded in providing the security and space for politics to occur and for the process of reconciliation to begin." She added that Somalia and its international partners will agree on 16 September in Brussels a "New Deal Compact" for the country's future that will help Somalia continue on the path to re-building a fragile state and healing a divided nation". The EU and the Federal Government of Somalia will co-host a High Level Conference on Somalia" in Brussels on 16 September.