STORY: AU Mission in Somalia has a new Force Commander

DURATION: 2:00
SOURCE: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
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LANGUAGE: ENGLISH NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 2/AUGUST/2020, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

SHOT LIST:

1. Wide shot, Aden Abdulleh International airport- Mogadishu

2. Med shot, a UN plane carrying the new AMISOM Force Commander
3. Wide shot, senior AMISOM military officers waiting to receive the Force
Commander
4. Close up shot, plane
5. Med shot, senior military officers
6. Wide shot, plane
7. Med shot, senior military officers
8. Med shot, Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming AMISOM Force
Commander getting of the plane
9. Med shot, Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming AMISOM Force
Commander received by Major General Nakibus Lakara, AMISOM Deputy Force
Commander Plans and Operations, Maj. Gen. George Owino, Deputy Force
Commander Support and Logistics and Brigadier. General Kabisa Domitien, Chief of
Staff
10. Wide shot, senior AMISOM military officers waiting to salute the force
commander
11. Wide shot, Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming AMISOM Force
Commander being saluted by senior military officers
12. Med shot, Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming AMISOM Force
Commander being saluted
13. Med shot, Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming AMISOM Force
Commander, Major General Nakibus Lakara, AMISOM Deputy Force Commander
Plans and Operations and Maj. Gen. George Owino, Deputy Force Commander
Support and Logistics
14. Close up shot, Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming AMISOM Force
Commander
15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming
AMISOM Force Commander
“I have come to help Africa, to help Somalia, our brothers. I have been here, maybe
five or six times before, from 2007 to 2012,”

16. Wide shot, Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming AMISOM Force
Commander takes a group photo with the senior military officers
17. Med shot, the senior officers leaving
18. Wide shot, Lieutenant General Ndegeya Diomede, Incoming AMISOM Force
Commander leaving the airport

AU Mission in Somalia has a new Force Commander

Mogadishu, 02 August—The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has a new

force commander; Lieutenant General Diomede Ndegeya from Burundi, who arrived
in Mogadishu on Sunday to be the overall head of forces from Burundi, Djibouti,
Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

Lieutenant General Ndegeya is to take over from Lt. Gen. Tigabu Yilma of Ethiopia,
whose tour of duty has ended after being Force Commander since January, 2019.

Gen. Ndegeya, was received at the Aden Abdulle International Airport by AMISOM
Deputy Force Commander Operations and Plans, Major General Nakibus Lakara;
Major Gen. George Owinow, the AMISOM Deputy Force Commander in charge
Support and Logistics, and other senior AMISOM military officers.

“I have come to help Africa, to help Somalia, to help our brothers. I have previously
been here a number of times, from 2007 to 2012,” said Gen. Ndegeya in his brief
remarks a few minutes after arrival.

With a career spanning 38 years, Gen. Ndegeya, 57, is no stranger to Somalia, having
previously served in Somalia from 2007 to 2009, as a member of the Burundi
National Defence Forces AMISOM’s pre-deployment team in-charge of supervising
and training. In 2012, he was part of a reconnaissance mission to the Bay and Bakool
regions of Somalia ahead of AMISOM troop deployment there.

Before his appointment as AMISOM Force Commander, Gen. Ndegeya was the
Senior Advisor to the Minister of Defence in Burundi, charged with political and
diplomatic affairs, a role he took on after serving four years as a Defence Attaché at
the Burundian Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
A holder of a Master’s degree in Technical Sciences, Gen. Ndegeya has vast
knowledge in military command and defence strategy obtained from military
institutions in Russia, China and France.

He has also published a number of research papers on peacekeeping missions in

Africa and professionalization of the Burundi National Defence Forces, among
others.