Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) nature and (b) purpose is of the deployment of UK armed forces to Somalia; and if he will make a statement.

The UK currently has 20 Armed Forces personnel deployed in Mogadishu, Somalia. Those personnel are supporting a range of UN and EU Missions to provide training, mentoring, and logistical support to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and develop the Somali National Army. The purpose of those Missions, and therefore our support, is to counter the terrorist threat from Al Shabaab and achieve security and stability within Somalia and the wider East Africa region. The total UK deployment includes a Defence Attache and Assistant DA at the British Embassy in Mogadishu.