WDM EDITORIAL
Somalia is known to have established one of the strongest national armies in Africa during the 1970s. This achievement was made possible when the Soviet Union secured exclusively a “Friendship Treaty” to build Somalia’s National Army. Since the formation of the Federal Government following the Civil War, there has been a continuous increase in the number of security contracts between many foreign powers and Mogadishu’s successive regimes. The training and recruitment of Somali soldiers by multiple international actors has prevented the establishment of an ideologically cohesive national army or security apparatus that truly represents the defense and security needs of this country. Instead, ideologically opposing units of the army are being created. Whether they are being trained by the USA, Britain, Turkey, Uganda, UAE, Eritrea, Qatar, Egypt and even Ethiopia, one can argue that they are not reliable Somali army units. We often hear of clashes between different units trained by various foreign countries. Obviously, this poses a problem for Somalia in terms of achieving a national army that can effectively combat extremists or meet the security needs of the country as a whole.
Even more troublesome is the fact that recruitment for the national army and other security services, including intelligence and police, is mainly drawn from the Banadir Region and its surrounding areas. This leads to the production of sub-clan forces, which is a national problem that is difficult to rectify in order to establish security forces with a national character. More alarming is the fact that most army, police and intelligence services conduct recruitment from former Al-Shabab and clan militia. There is also widespread infiltration of extremist elements not only into the security services but also throughout government departments.
This practice of relying on multiple foreign powers to train our security services must stop, and measures to streamline our security needs must be implemented immediately.
[This article was edited after posting].
Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN) 