President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has said the time has come for the Somali National Army to take full responsibility for national security and for foreign troops eventually to leave, telling newly trained soldiers that Somalia can no longer depend indefinitely on international forces. He spoke on Sunday at the graduation of thousands of recruits at the Hananbure military training centre in the central Galgaduud region. The recruits completed nearly a year of training before formally joining the Somali National Army. The government said they were the largest single group of soldiers to train at that level inside Somalia since the collapse of the central government in 1991. They came from regions across the country and studied combat tactics, military law, discipline and other core military skills. Mohamud described the new soldiers as a significant addition to the army, praising the length and specialisation of their training. “The world and our friends have helped us, but our time has come — the time for us to take responsibility,” he told the troops. He said the time had also come to give the foreign forces in the country “beautiful flowers” and thank them. The graduation is part of a wider drive to expand and professionalise Somalia’s security forces as Mogadishu seeks to reduce reliance on foreign troops. Earlier this month, another group completed training for the US-backed Danab commandos at the Balli-doogle military base in Lower Shabelle. The new Hananbure units are expected to reinforce troops fighting Al-Shabaab in central Somalia, including Galmudug, one of the main battlegrounds of the government’s campaign. Somali security forces have also stepped up targeted operations in recent weeks. The National Intelligence and Security Agency said on Sunday that an operation carried out with international partners in the Hiiraan region on August 12 killed three senior Al-Shabaab commanders. The agency said the operation seriously wounded several others, including Mustafa Aato, described as the overall commander of Al-Shabaab’s fighting units in Hiiraan. US Africa Command said its most recent publicly announced strike against Al-Shabaab took place near Jilib in southern Somalia on August 7. The uncertainty around the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) adds urgency to the military buildup. AUSSOM, which began operations in January 2025 replacing ATMIS, faces a severe funding crisis and growing donor pressure for Somalia to assume greater responsibility for its own security. In July, the United States told the African Union it would no longer support the UN Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) after the end of 2026. UNSOS provides much of the logistical backbone for the AU mission, including food, water, fuel, medical services and troop transportation. Washington has provided roughly $2 billion in assessed contributions to UNSOS and its predecessor, along with about $1.6 billion in bilateral support to countries that deployed troops to Somalia. US officials have increasingly questioned how long international partners should carry the cost of Somalia’s security. In July, AFRICOM commander General Dagvin Anderson warned that continued US engagement could become harder to justify unless Somalia showed progress against militant groups and overcame persistent political divisions. The funding dispute has added urgency to the difficult task of holding rural territory after driving Al-Shabaab out of areas in southern and central Somalia, where the group still has a strong presence. For the new units expected to operate in central Somalia, the test is not only fighting Al-Shabaab but securing roads and rural districts as foreign logistical support becomes less certain. The outcome will determine whether areas such as Galmudug and Hiiraan remain accessible and under government control, or fall back under the militants’ shadow.