Djibouti Train 600 Somali Policemen

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Djibouti Train 600 Somali Policemen

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An African Union (AU) special representative on Tuesday announced that Djibouti will train 600 Somali policemen in order to help the government to bring peace to Somalia.

AU special representative Wafula Wamunyiny added that 200 policemen will undergo a three-month training in Manyani, Kenya, while 80 senior officers will be trained in Rwanda and South Africa next January, AfricaNews reported.

African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) police commissioner Hudson Benzu said that in addition to the near 900 individuals that will be trained, the remaining 7,000 Somali police officers are in need of training as well. Benzu said that the training will ensure a strong and capable police force according to international standards.

"We intend to ensure that areas falling under AMISOM control will be under police, not soldiers, to ensure law and order in Somalia," Wamunyiny said.

Last year, the U.S. spent $6.8 million to train around 2,100 Somali soldiers in Djibouti and Uganda while the EU paid â‚¬5 million (approximately $6 million) for the training of 2,000 Somalis in Uganda.

The two officials also informed that AU forces in conjunction with Somali forces, now control about half (50 percent) of Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, in contrast with last month when Islamist rebels limited the government control to only a few blocks.

Somalia has not had a solid government since warlords overthrew long-time dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was appointed in 2009 and was seen at that moment as Somalia's best chance in two decades of war of peace, unity and prosperity.

However, Al-Shabaab Islamist rebels control much of southern and central Somalia. On Monday, a former Somali commander said that soldiers were selling weapons to the rebels as the government has not paid them wages for up to three months.

As violence continues in the region, almost 68,000 Somalis have fled this year to countries in the region. As of the end of August, there were more than 614,000 Somali refugees and over 1.4 million displaced within the country.

Rohosafi, English News Staff
Email: englishnews@live.com