Arrests made in Somali army clash over leftover equipment at former UAE training facility

Hiiraan Online
Monday April 23, 2018

FILE PHOTO Gen. Abdiweli Jama Gorod

Mogadishu (HOL) - Somali officials have said that they've detained a number of soldiers who were trained by the UAE after a gun battle between two factions in the SNA over equipment and military hardware left 2 dead and eight injured in the former UAE-trained military training centre, just days after the base was handed over to Somali officials.

Witnesses reported hearing gunfire from the former UAE military training base in Mogadishu in the early afternoon.

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Somali military officials have said that the gunfire was exchanged between to factions within the Somali army - the UAE-trained soldiers and another unit within the SNA - over equipment left over by the UAE as they evacuated their former base.

It is alleged that the soldiers trained by the UAE were "looting" the leftover equipment.

Relations between Somalia and the UAE took a nosedive in recent weeks with the high-profile seizure of nearly $10 million USD from an Emirati plane by Somali authorities. The UAE was infuriated at the seizure and announced that it would cease its military training program in Somalia.

The Somalia-UAE issue is plays out as a scene in the backdrop of the 'Gulf Crisis' that his pitted a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar. Somalia has officially maintained neutrality in the dispute.

“Some Somali military forces attacked us at the base, they wanted to loot it but we repulsed them,” Ahmed Nur a soldier who was trained under the discontinued program, told Reuters.

Residents in the area told Reuters that they saw UAE trained forces discarding their military uniforms and fleeing the facility in three-wheeled rickshaws with their guns in their laps.

Gen Abdiweli Jama Gorod told reporters that the UAE-trained soldiers shot and killed a member of the SNA. He added that after 90 minutes of gunfire, the situation is now under control and arrests have been made in the double homicide.

"The soldiers are now under control and the officers behind this incident will be brought before the law". Gorod said that soldiers who deviate from their national duty should be handed over and face repercussions for their actions.

With files from Agencies

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