Conflict · ArchiveAfter Dec 31, U.S. Ends Funding for Somalia's Anti-Shabaab Mission – What's Next?Aired August 2, 2026 at 7:06 AM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00The United States is ending its0:01financial commitment to the African0:03Union Mission in Somalia. After December0:0531st, the funding that has sustained the0:08fight against al-Shabaab for nearly two0:09decades will stop. Since 2007, the0:12United States has poured more than 1.60:14billion dollars into stabilizing0:16Somalia. That funding allowed a force of0:1812,000 foreign troops from five0:20countries to take the fight to0:21al-Shabaab. But after December 31st,0:24that financial pipeline runs dry.0:25Several African nations met in Uganda's0:27capital, Kampala, to discuss the0:29mission's future, a future no longer0:31underwritten by Washington. At the0:33Shaddar refugee camp on the0:34Somalia-Ethiopia border, 15,000 Somali0:37refugees have already fled al-Shabaab's0:39violence. Among them is Ahmed, who fled0:42his village after the group forcibly0:43recruited his brother.0:50Ahmed described al-Shabaab as0:52responsible for killings and forced0:54displacement, and he calls on the0:56African Union and the international0:57community to continue the fight until0:59refugees can return home. What neither1:01the United States nor the African Union1:03has yet answered is what happens to1:05those 15,000 refugees or the broader1:08Somali population when the mission that1:10has held the line loses its funding. The1:12December 31st deadline is fixed. The1:14plan for what comes after it is not.Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗