Hiiraan Online
Wednesday April 18, 2018
Christine Alalo, the Deputy Police Commissioner of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and other senior officers receive newly deployed Sierra Leonean Formed Police Unit (FPU) officers arriving in Mogadishu on April 17, 2018, to take part in peacekeeping operations in Somalia. The new police contingent will work in the Jubbaland State of Somalia. AMISOM Photo/ Ilyas Ahmed
Mogadishu (HOL) - The government of Sierra Leone on Tuesday sent 145 police officers to Somalia to mentor Somali officer on Policing Programmes.
The officers who are from the Formed Police Unit (Unit) were at received at Kismayo Airport by Ms. Christine Alalo, the Acting AMISOM Police Commissioner.
“I want to welcome them to the Mission. We are very happy,” said the Deputy Police Commissioner, while noting that the police component still requires additional police officers in the Formed Police Unit to enable them to perform tasks effectively. “We are moving away from Mogadishu. We are going into the regional states, deep into the districts and we need them because they will be helping us with movement and other operations,” Alalo noted.
The core duties of the police officers together with the advance team of 15 others who had arrived earlier include and public order management, protection of facilities and support to police operations that require a concerted response, according to Alalo.
She said the officers will start supporting their Somali counterparts in keeping law and order in the outstations of the Jubbaland Administration.
“Their coming is going to be a boost to the Jubbaland State Police Force. In 2016, we trained 600 police officers in Jubbaland and the Sierra Leone FPU will help them build and empower their policing operations,” Ms. Alalo.
Ms. Alalo thanked the Sierra Leonean government for deploying the extra officers to Somalia to help with stabilization efforts.
Mustafa Solomon Kambeh, Contingent Commander of the Sierra Leone Police, expressed his country’s commitment to AMISOM and Somalia.
“We are here to fulfil AMISOM’s mandate, to ensure that we capacitate the Somali Police Force and (help them) execute their functions,” he said.
The officers have been deployed in response to the United Nations Security Council Resolution adopted in 2017, which approved an increase to a maximum of 1,040, in the number of police officers serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).