Uganda troops serving with the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), on Sunday teamed up with the local community to clean up Qoryoole town, 100 km southwest of the capital Mogadishu.

Led by the officer commanding Qoryoole Forward Operating Base, Capt. Charles Ochola, and local administration officials, the troops and members of the local community collected garbage, cut down overgrown bushes, dredged and opened up storm water drains in a joint operation lasting several hours.

The Uganda troops also cleaned up the local hospital to support both health workers and patients.

‘’Good hygiene and sanitation reduce the spread of diseases – from waterborne, airborne, vector borne and other transmittable diseases and thus saves lives,’ said Capt. Ochola.

“I want to thank ATMIS forces for the kind and selfless initiative of cleaning up the environment. This will go a long way in ensuring our people live in safe and clean conditions and reduce the spread of diseases,” said the Qoryoole District Commissioner, Mohamed Haji Osman Hassan, who was at the cleanup exercise.

He pledged the continued cooperation of the local administration to ensure a peaceful co-existence.

As part of its commitment to contributing meaningfully to Climate Change mitigation, ATMIS in June this year, among others launched a Tree Planting initiative with the UN, to plant 30,000 trees in 58 Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) by December 2024.

The campaign is in line with President, H.E. Hassan Sheikh’s ‘Regreening Somalia Initiative’ which was launched in October 2022. A total of 10 million trees will be planted to boost biodiversity and help combat repeated cycles of devastating droughts.