African forces in Somalia, of which the Kenya Defence Forces are a part, should start withdrawing from October 2018, the African Union has said. 
The African Peace and Security Council said the two-year period would allow proper establishment of necessary facilities for the handover of African Union Mission (Amisom) to the Somali forces. 
The details of the two-year schedule were contained in a revised Concept of Operations (Conops) which the council approved last week during its 608th meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 
It means Amisom should start pulling out of Somalia only after a new stable government has been in place, Al-Shabaab has been chased out of most of the territory they still occupy and the Somali National Security Forces (SNSF) have been strengthened. 
"The council endorses the revised Conops, which reflect efforts toward enhancing Amisom and SNSF operations and crucially identifies indicative timelines for an exit strategy of Amisom from Somalia," the council said in a dispatch.

Source: QNA