The drawdown of African peacekeepers from Somalia has stalled

No peacekeeping mission anywhere has been as deadly, nor has any African-led one lasted as long. After almost 17 years of trying to stabilise Somalia and beat back jihadists, at a loss of perhaps 3,500 peacekeepers, the next phase in winding down the almost 18,000-strong African Union (AU) force had been greeted with high hopes. Yet plans to withdraw 3,000 troops at the end of September have just been shelved, The Economist has learned. This is because of concerns that Somalia’s army will be unable to hold territory that had previously been recaptured from al-Shabab, a jihadist group that America’s military command for Africa has termed “the largest and most deadly al-Qaeda network in the world”.