joint delegation of senior police officers from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somali Police Force (SPF) has concluded a two-day assessment tour of training sites in Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions ahead of the official launch of a new phase of training of newly recruited police officers.
The delegation led by the AMISOM Police Commissioner Brigadier General Anand Pillay and the SPF Deputy Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abdi Bashir, inspected training facilities in Belet Weyne and Jowhar, the administrative capitals of Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions.
With funding support from the Department for International Development (DFID), the development arm of the UK, AMISOM will train up to 1000 police officers from HirShabelle state; 600 in Belet Weyne and another 400 in Jowhar.
“I was in Belet Weyne yesterday and met with the Commissioner of HirShabelle state where we discussed training of 600 police officers for Belet Weyne.
Today we are here to see the premises where we will train 400 police officers for Jowhar and at the same time we are here to encourage the police officers and thank them for the good work that they doing as well as provide some equipment for Jowhar police station,” AMISOM Police Commissioner Anand Pillay said on Thursday, after a meeting with the Governor of the Middle Shabelle region Mr. Ahmed Mayre Makaran.
Pillay handed over office equipment donated by the Japanese Government to Jowhar Police Station, as part of efforts aimed at enhancing capacity and improving the efficiency of the Somali police force.
The Middle Shabelle Governor Mr. Ahmed Mayre Makaran who received the donation hailed AMISOM Police and the Japanese government for the assistance, saying it would greatly improve the work of the law enforcement officers. “We are extremely grateful for the equipment to HirShabelle police, and particularly to the police in Middle Shabelle. The equipment is extremely useful and will help in the establishment of a database of necessary information.”
General Mohamed Abdi Bashir, the Deputy Police Commissioner of HirShabelle state said although the police force was constrained by resources, 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,” He told police officers from the Middle Shabelle region.
The donation included a table, chairs, cameras, wifi modems and laptop computers.
“AMISOM will continue to lobby for more equipment and will renovate the police stations in order to ensure that the goals of the SPF are achieved,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Chikunguru Maxwell, who is the AMISOM Police Coordinator of Reforms, Restructuring and Development pledged, promising further support to the local police.