The UK officially opened a training base in Somalia on Saturday, June 8, for the Somali National Army (SNA), as the Horn of African nation prepares to take up security responsibilities.
The training base which is aimed at training at least 120 soldiers is based in Baidoa, the capital of Bay region, some 250 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu.
The British Embassy in Somalia announced that training facility will help develop Somali led security forces besides promoting long term stability and security in the country.
British personnel have been in Baidoa since 2017and have been offering medical skills, leadership, equipment care and logistics.
Somalia has been dogged by an Islamist militancy for more than a decade, perpetrated by Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab. The is also facing threat from ISIS linked cells operating in northern Somalia and some parts of central and southern Somalia.
With an unequipped and untrained security force, allied partner forces moved into Somalia to help in the fight against terrorism. The UK, US and African Union are some of the groups with missions in Somalia.
With much gains made in the fight against the terror outfits, various security agencies including the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) plan to systematically withdraw the troops from the Somalia.
The withdrawal of AMISOM troops is due to start from October, with the force expected to be fully out of the country by December 2020, handing over to the SNA.
Defeating Al-Shabaab is a key agenda in President Mohamed Farmaajo’s government, one he has voiced confidence that he will achieve with help of allied partner forces.
