Kismayo, July 25th -The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Police unit is engaging with the Interim Jubba Administration on plans to train at least 600 officers of the Somali Police Force. This is in fulfilment of its mandate to train and build the capacity of the Somali Police Force.

The AMISOM Deputy Police Commissioner Christine Alalo led a delegation to Kismayo to discuss modalities for vetting and screening of the recruits in Kismayo.

Similar meetings have been held in Baidoa and training is expected to begin early next month. The aim is to train at least 1800 recruits in the three regions of Jubaland, ISWA and Hiraan. The AMISOM delegation also visited the proposed training camp to finalize the arrangements.

The AMISOM delegation met with the Interim Jubba Administration Security and Interior Minister H.E: Mohamed Warsame Darwsih and other officers from the IJA.

Speaking during the meeting, Minister, Mohamed Darwish welcomed the initiative and said they are well prepared for the training and capacity building of the SPF. “We have already prepared a number of the police personnel that are to be trained.We requested AMISOM Deputy Police Commissioner and the officers of AMISOM Police in general to start the training as soon as possible. It is important for SPF Police in Lower Jubba Region,’’ he said. Jubbaland Police Commissioner, General Mohamed Hassan Barre-Gabobe said the meeting had been fruitful.

“We have met today with different officials from AMISOM and the UN. We discussed and reached an agreement of training 600 Jubbaland Police. The meeting was led by Jubbaland Interior and Security Minister, Mohamed Warsame Darwish, other officers from Jubbaland Administration, the police and committee of JubbalandPolice Capacity Building Program. It was a good meeting that agreed to start the capacity building program in Lower Jubba,”said the General.

AMISOM Deputy Police Commissioner, Christine Alalo who was on her maiden visit to Kismayo said the meeting was fruitful and reiterated the commitment of the AMISOM towards boosting the capacity of the SPF both at the Central government level and with the regional states.

“We had come here to discuss issues on our cooperation between the SPF and AMISOM. Specifically on our mandate of training, there is a proposal to train about 600 of police officers from this place and this is why we are trying to discuss today. In our meeting, we had the Minister and Commissioner of the Police and we want to see how we have the police trained to have the basics of police training, so that they are able to protect their community,’’ she said.