Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - President Donald Trump's decision to cut aid and end political support and funding for the African Union's military mission in Somalia sent leaders scrambling to find a sustainable solution.

Somalia has battled Al-Shabaab insurgents for around two decades, but the Islamist group still controls vast swathes of the country.

The African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) is the leading force supporting the Somali army, providing roughly 12,000 troops.

Despite this crucial support, the US has announced it will end payments to the UN Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), which crucially provides logistics to the mission, by the end of this year.

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The Trump administration also said it will oppose any further UN logistical support to AUSSOM.

In a July 1 letter, Washington accused Somalia's government of a lack of progress against Al-Shabaab and in addressing security and governance challenges.

Analysts fear a similar scenario as in Afghanistan when US troops pulled out in 2021. That could lead to the possible collapse of the government in Mogadishu, which for two decades has had African Union backing.

On Thursday, defense ministers from the countries that make up the mission – Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda – and Somalia stressed "the need for an orderly, coordinated and phased exit" of the AU mission.

They called on the UN Security Council to mandate an interim body to provide support to the mission for up to two years, according to a report of the meeting seen by AFP.

Analysts said, however, that chances of the mission continuing were slim given Washington's stance.

"I doubt that there is any viable possibility for sustaining this mission without reversal of the US decision on UNSOS," Solomon Dersso, head of the Amani Africa think tank, said.