From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Jan 04 2010 - 07:21:11 EST
Official Says AMISOM Is Stepping Up Training for Somali Troops
An official of the African Union’s troops (AMISOM) says the group has
stepped up training efforts of Somali government soldiers to combat daily
attacks by hard-line Islamic insurgents.
Peter Clottey | Washington, DC 03 January 2010
An official of the African Union’s troops (AMISOM) says the group has
stepped up training efforts of Somali government soldiers to combat daily
attacks by hard-line Islamic insurgents.
AMISOM’s spokesman Major Barigye Ba-Huko says Somalis are responding
positively to the training.
AMISOM spokesman Major Barigye Ba-Huko.
“The underlining principle is that one day, one time, AMISOM would have to
leave this country. When AMISOM leaves, the idea is that Somalia should have
its own people who have been trained, who have been equipped to run the
affairs of this country after we have accomplished our mission…It will be
very important to have a national army, and we are making an effort towards
that. So that is how far we have gotten with that,” he said.
Mandated by the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, AMISOM has been
tasked to support the Somali transitional governmental structures implement
a national security plan, train the Somali security forces, and to assist in
creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Ba-Huko said Somalis are joining the newly formed army.
“The population is generally tired of war, and they are looking for any way
out. So whenever there is an opportunity, sometime you may say you are
looking for 500 people, 200 people, but you will get 700. So I think usually
the response is the right one,” Ba-Huko said.
Meanwhile, Shaykh Yusuf Muhammad Siyad, the Somali minster of state for
defense is quoted as saying that the transitional government is conducting
investigations on ships that have been importing illegal arms in Kismaayo.
Siyad claims opposition groups fighting the government have been getting
arms and other military equipment from foreign countries including Eritrea
and Yemen - - a charge Eritrea denies.
Ba-Huko said AMISOM will support the government’s investigations.
“AMISOM will help the transitional government in all ways possible, and if
that is one of the ways they require us to help them, we will. As you know,
part of our responsibility is to support the transitional federal
institutions and so if that support can also be translated to mean helping
them in investigations that is okay,” Ba-Huko said.
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