In February 2012, the U.N. Security Council boosted the number of troops deployed from 12,000 to 17,731. The approval comes after a series of recent successes against al-Shabaab fighters who had previous positions throughout the central and southern areas of the country. During the same month, AU Commander Fred Mugisha suggested that Al-Shabaab was "at weakest" and would likely "implode in the not so distant future" owing to successive military defeats that it suffered as well as an exodus toward the Arabian Peninsula of hundreds of the group's fighters.