AMISOM officers visit regional states to discuss security

Jun 18, 2017

AMISOM will look at ways of renovating old police stations and constructing and equipping new ones

A delegation of senior AMISOM Police officers visited Jubbaland, South West and HirShabelle states to assess the needs of the Somali Police and identify areas that require urgent support. 

The delegation led by Police Commissioner Brig. Gen. Anand Pillay held meetings with top security officials in the administrative centres of Kismayo, Baidoa and Hiiran. 

In Kismayo, the delegation met with Jubbaland Deputy Security Minister, Issak Mohamed Hassan, and discussed issues focusing on training and improvement of security infrastructure for Jubbaland Police Force. 

"Our commissioner came here to discuss how they can retrain officers and build their capacity to be able to offer leadership to the other officers and manage the affairs of policing services in Jubbaland. We also came to discuss with them how we are going to renovate police stations or construct new ones so that the officers we are training can be deployed to those police stations and help expand policing services outside Kismayo to other areas," said Paul Frimpong, the Acting AMISOM Police Reform Coordinator. 

Jubbaland Police Commissioner, Ahmed Nasir Guled, thanked the senior officials for visiting the region, adding that AMISOM had pledged to support the regional administration on key security areas. 

"Our discussions focused on four areas; giving more training opportunities to the 600 police officers, who were trained by AMISOM, support to cover other needs of the police force and establishment of police structures so as to transform it into a modern police. They (AMISOM) agreed to help us get other equipment," Guled noted. 

AMISOM, the Jubbaland Police Commissioner said, also agreed to organize training for local police officers on criminal investigation and traffic management to help improve policing in the region. 

In Baidoa the delegation held a meeting with the Acting President, who is also the Minister of Agriculture, Mohamed Hassan Fiqi; the South West Police Commissioner, Col. Mahat Abdirahman Adan, and other state officials at the Presidential Palace. 

At the meeting, Brig. Gen. Pillay pledged to improve the capacity of the police in the regional states through trainings and refurbishment of the existing police infrastructure to enhance service delivery. 

 "We have already trained 600 officers and we want to see how we can continue to train them so that they can be able to provide the services that are required by the people of South West. We are looking at how we are going to provide leadership training and offer further training to all the 600 officers so as to build up their capacity to enable them function well," CSP. Frimpong who spoke on behalf of the Commissioner observed. 

The official reiterated that AMISOM will look at ways of renovating old police stations and constructing and equipping new ones to enable the officers effectively perform their duties. 

The AMISOM delegation also pledged to train 600 police officers in HirShabelle under the programme funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID). HirShabelle, the youngest regional state, is in the process of forming a regional force similar to those established in other federal states. 

Hiiran Police Commander, Col. Issak Ali Abdulle, thanked AMISOM for the support, saying the regional administration was committed to improving law and order in the country.

 "They [AMISOM Police] came so that we can have consultations on how to build HirShabelle Police Force. We agreed that they train 400 police officers for HirShabelle. Two hundred will be trained in Belet Weyne and another two hundred will be trained in Jowhar town. They will be the first police officers of HirShabelle state," said Col. Abdulle. 

AMISOM Police has been at the forefront in training and equipping Somali Police to strengthen its capacity and ability to offer adequate security and maintain law and order, especially after AMISOM exits the country.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});