Sierra Leone is withdrawing its troops from Somalia after
the African Union blocked the West African country from rotating its soldiers
over fears for the Ebola virus.
Sierra Leone sent 850 troops to
Somalia for a 12-month deployment to fight the al-Qaeda-linked rebel group,
al-Shabab, in Somalia in 2013.
Their rotation was delayed
after a group of 800 soldiers, who were waiting to replace their comrades in
Somalia, were quarantined after one of the soldiers was tested positive for
Ebola.
“They have to go. We wish they
could have stayed but they have been here long. And there is no rotation
possible because of the nature of the situation,” Maman Sidou, the AU’s special
representative for Somalia said during a farewell event for the troops held in
the port city of Kismayo on Friday.
In August, Somali’s President
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said no new troops from Sierra Leone will be deployed to
his country after calls by activists and a campaign on social media by Somalis
calling for halt to the deployment.
“This is something that is
beyond the control of Republic of Sierra Leone, beyond the control of AU and
beyond the control of the Federal Republic of Somalia; but we have clearly stated
that we are very grateful for their contribution. They came to Somalia at a
very difficult time. They are leaving Somalia in a much, much better
situation,” President Hassan said during the heavily guarded farewell ceremony.
The African Union which has more
than 22,000 troops in Somalia from Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, Burundi,
Nigeria and Ghanan said the departing soldiers will now be replaced by other
troops from countries that already have boots on the ground, until the virus
has been fully contained.
The troops will withdraw from
Somalia in January.
The worst outbreak of the Ebola
virus in history has claimed the lives of more than 7,300 people this year in
West Africa according to the World Health Organization. In Sierra Leone there
have been more than 2,470 deaths reported.
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