At least 200 new Somali recruits are undergoing a three month basic recruits course in Baidoa, offered by the police component of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
The new recruits are from all regions of the South West Administration and will be deployed to several towns recently liberated by Somali National Army and AMISOM troops in Sector 3.
The newly liberated towns lack police stations for maintenance of law and order. AMISOM Superintendent of Police Sholla Omilade explained that the aim of the training is to expand the capacity of the Somali Police Force but also to build the confidence of force.
“We are presently in Baidoa to train the new Somali recruits for Somali Police in Baidoa. We are going to train them for about three months so as to build confidence in the new force and to bring hope again in Somalia,” he said.
He acknowledged the zeal and enthusiasm shown by the new recruits saying, “The enthusiasm in them shows that they really want to build back the confidence of the people in law enforcement.
They are really ready to serve the country, to help the citizens. This is also a motivating factor for us the trainers. And now we are more dedicated and more committed to train them.”
At the end of the three months training, it is hoped that the recruits will have gained enough skills to help them police regions under the Interim South West Administration: “And we hope that by the end of the course, by the end of the training, we will have new Somali Police Force members who are ready to restore hope and peace and confidence back to the citizens of Somalia, and long awaited peace will be restored back into Somalia,” said Sholla.
One of the trainees, Abdullahi Mohamed Adan, expressed optimism about the training saying, “We are very happy about this training since we are the natives of this area. This training will be a boost to the current police force in the area. We are the youth who are required to bring peace and development to our region and the only way we can do that is to have a strong police force that can maintain law and order and work for the safety of our people.”
