The United Nations Support Office for AMISOM (UNSOA) is a field support operation led by the United Nations Department of Field Support (DFS).
UN Security Council Resolution 1863 (2009) provides UNSOA with a mandate to deliver a logistics capacity support package to AMISOM(African Union Mission in Somalia) critical in achieving its operational effectiveness and in preparation for a possible UN peacekeeping operation.
The logistics package consists of equipment and mission support services normally provided for a United Nations peacekeeping operation of the same size, and aims to assist AMISOM in its mandate to support the transitional governmental structures, implement a national security plan, train the Somali security forces, and to assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
UNSOA also liaises with the Nairobi-based Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) in its goals of creating the necessary political and security conditions in Somalia for a stepped-up international engagement, and with other UN bodies.
UNSOA’s logistics package is funded from United Nations assessed contributions and through the Trust Fund established during the Somalia donor conference in Brussels on 23 April 2009.
UNSOA is headquartered near the AMISOM Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, with logistics operations facilitated through Mombasa and Entebbe, Uganda.