The 2021 Somalia elections could complicate plans by the African Union peacekeepers to withdraw its forces in the next two years.
Military experts say that the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) may have to revise its timetable because the next elections — when the country is expected to hold universal suffrage (the right to vote of all adults) after 52 years — is too important to be conducted without substantial security.
Amisom was supposed to withdraw 1,000 troops in December this year and another 1,000 in May next year, with the final withdrawal set for the end of 2020.
