By Godfrey Olukya 16-4-2013
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and its partners formally closed today a three months training course in specialized Public Order Management facilitated by AMISOM with funding support from the Italian government for Somali Police Officers at the Djibouti National Police Training Academy.
182 Men and 15 Women successfully graduated from the training which was conducted by 32 Italian Carabineri trainers and 5 AMISOM Police Trainers.
‘The training course ending today represents an important contribution of the African Union, Djibouti and Italy to the process of strengthening the new political dispensation in Somalia’, said Rosso Renzo, Ambassador of Italy to Ethiopia and the African Union.
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, Ambassador Mahamat Saleh Annadif appealed to the participants to make the most of the training and return home ready to implement their newly acquired skills in improving the security of Somalia.
‘The training that you have received will help fill a key gap in the Somali Police Force after years of civil war and armed conflict. I have no doubt that the skills and capability attained during this intensive training will increase your ability to protect civilians and enforce the rule of law on your own,’ he said.
On his part the Somali Minister of State for Internal Security, H.E Mahdi Mahamud Ali thanked all parties for their cooperation and support while reaffirming the success of this initiative.
So far, over 1000 Somali Police Officers have been trained by AMISOM Police with support from partners. The skills and knowledge acquired by the officers have been able to make positive and concrete impact towards the improvement of service delivery by the Somali Police Officers to the public.
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