Three hundred Darwish trainees of the Somali Police Force have graduated from the General Kahiye Police Training Academy in Mogadishu. The police trainees graduated from the police training academy after a month-long specialized training in Mogadishu.
The trainees were first trained in Djibouti for three months before undergoing a refresher program at the police academy in January 2020. They are the first batch of 1,750 Darwish forces to be trained to secure population centers in liberated areas and newly liberated areas of Lower Shabelle region.
The trainees were comprehensively trained in combating terrorism, intelligence, patrols, stop and search techniques, human rights, community policing, criminal justice, policing standards, gender, public order management, operations, convoy control, and management, EOD and IED awareness.
The restructuring of the police forces has brought reforms that include having personnel from Darwish forces, Birmad forces, Haramcad forces, and the Rapid Response Team in police stations across the federal state members in Somalia.
The Darwish forces were trained by AMISOM, N Police (UNPOL), the EU Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUCAP), UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), and the EU Training Mission in Somalia (EUTM).
Darwish is projected to be a major component of the SPF in stabilization under the Somalia Transition Plan. They will police recovered areas and as such are required to acquire specialized training building their capacity to ensure the gains made against al Shabaab are permanent.
