African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said on Friday it would launch a new phase of training for 1,000 newly recruited police officers to help enhance security in southern Somalia.
AMISOM said in a statement that 600 police recruits would come from Belet Weyne and another 400 in Jowhar which are part of HirShabelle state in southern Somalia.
“AMISOM will continue to lobby for more equipment and will renovate the police stations in order to ensure that the goals of the Somali Police Force (SPF) are achieved,’’ AMISOM Police Coordinator of Reforms, Restructuring and Development pledged.
“The training will improve the skills of the SPF so that they can be more professional in keeping the people of Somalia safe and secure, with crimes professionally investigated,” the coordinator, Chikunguru Maxwell, said.
Maxwell was speaking after a joint delegation of senior police officers from AMISOM and SPF concluded a two-day assessment tour of training sites in Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions ahead of the launch of the training.
Gen. Mohamed Abdi-Bashir, the Deputy Police Commissioner of HirShabelle State, said although the police force was constrained by resources but they were determined to deliver to the people of Somalia.
“Our capacity in terms of equipment is small but you will get a share of what we get and this is part of it,’’ Abdi-Bashir told police officers from the Middle Shabelle region.
The training involves practical work designed to deal with prevailing crimes in a post-conflict environment such as Somalia. (Xinhua/NAN)
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