SOMALIA: The trained Somali troops are ready to deploy to Mogadishu

About 1,000 Somali troops who have been trained by the EU military expertise’s and AU officers at the Bihanga Military camp in the Western Uganda district of Ibanda are ready to deploy to Somalia to fight against an al-Qaeda linked Somali group Al shabaab that is fighting to the transitional federal government and AU peacekeeping force in Mogadishu.
Attending the ceremony were members from the EU countries and the Uganda government and including, the European Union (EU) ambassador and head of delegation to Uganda, Vincent De Visscher and Kampla-based France, Burundi, Somalia, UK, Belgium, Italy and the UPDF commander of land forces, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala.
The Somali minister of defence Abdul-Hakim Mohamed who was also present at the occasion which happened on Wednesday has appealed to international community and the regional government to move forward and increase ways to train to the Somali forces.
Reports say the trainees were also given different things of skills such as, weapons, military exercises and tactics, after six months in recruiting at the Bihanga Military camp.
Thousands of Somali troops trained in particular counties like Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya have already gone back to Somalia to defeat the government from the radical Islamists, but done nothing at all and are protested for their salaries. The troops have been complaining of neglect by the government and the international community.
An estimated 7,000 AU force are operating in Mogadishu to protect for Somali government, though the part of the capital the government controls is so smaller than the insurgents’ areas.
Somalia which has not had a strong functioning government, since the civil war broke out in 1991 is a country where its people are still witnessing deadly violence, piracy, poverty, corruption and other more human rights violations.
By Mohamed Odowa
Horseed Media