The United Nations has begun cutting civilian staff and preparing to sell mission assets in Somalia as a deepening funding crisis threatens the logistics system supporting the African Union security mission. Ten civilian employees of the African Union-United Nations Information Support Team have been told their contracts will end on September 10. A source familiar with the process said further job losses are expected as the United Nations Support Office in Somalia, UNSOS, reduces costs. The pressure matters because UNSOS provides much of the logistical infrastructure needed to keep the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia, AUSSOM, operating. Its support includes aviation, transport, medical support, accommodation, communications and engineering services. On August 6, UNSOS issued an expression of interest seeking firms to handle the commercial sale of UN-owned property in Somalia. Listed equipment includes vehicles, generators, computers and other IT equipment, heavy construction machinery, medical and laboratory equipment, accommodation materials, and assets used in military and aviation operations. The proposed contract would initially last three months, with an option for three further extensions of three months each. The procurement notice did not say the assets were being sold because of the funding crisis, and UN missions routinely dispose of surplus equipment. However, the planned sales coincide with staff reductions and uncertainty over whether the current support structure can continue beyond the end of 2026. UNSOS has for years been the logistical backbone of successive African Union missions in Somalia, from AMISOM to ATMIS and now AUSSOM. The current mission is authorised to deploy up to 11,826 uniformed personnel, including 680 police officers, until December 31. UN budget documents put UNSOS requirements for the 2026-27 financial year at about $481.7 million, down from an approved $520.6 million for 2025-26. The budget cycle runs until June 30, 2027, while the current Security Council authorisation for UNSOS support to AUSSOM expires six months earlier. UN Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support Atul Khare recently travelled to Mogadishu for talks with UN staff, Somali officials and international partners about the financial uncertainty. Somalia Today sources said Khare told them Washington would oppose continued Security Council authorisation for UNSOS support beyond December 31, creating a nearer deadline for the operation. The strain on international support comes as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud argues that Somali forces are increasingly able to take responsibility for the country’s security. On August 16, Mohamud presided over the graduation of more than 3,000 Somali National Army soldiers at Hananbure in the central Galgaduud region. It was the largest group to complete training at that level inside Somalia since the central government collapsed in 1991. Mohamud said Somalia had reached a point where it could take full charge of its security, calling for African peacekeepers to be given “a bunch of flowers” and sent home. Another part of the international presence is nearing its end. The United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia, UNTMIS, is scheduled to close by October 31, with its remaining responsibilities transferred to Somali institutions and the UN country team. Some military partners, however, are signalling that their troops could remain as the support structures change. Uganda contributes about 4,500 personnel to AUSSOM and has around 2,000 additional troops deployed under a separate bilateral agreement with Mogadishu. Kiwanuka said the arrangement for Uganda’s continued presence would evolve, but noted that it already had a force in Somalia under a bilateral arrangement. He also said Somalia and its partners must find resources to ensure that any eventual withdrawal is orderly and coordinated. A Ugandan military source separately told The EastAfrican that military officials expected Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt to retain forces in Somalia in 2027. That leaves an unresolved question over how foreign forces remaining after the current AUSSOM mandate would be financed and supported if the UN logistics system is reduced or no longer authorised to support them. Decisions now being made on staffing, equipment and logistics could determine what kind of international security presence remains in Somalia after December, and what system, if any, will sustain it. For people in Soomaaliya and across the Somali diaspora who follow the country’s security developments, the issue is practical: changes to the aviation, transport and medical systems behind AUSSOM will shape how any continuing foreign and Somali forces are supported after the current mandate ends.