Wednesday July 7, 2021
FILE
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said it has completed training of 26 police officers from HirShabelle State on preventing and countering violent extremism and radicalization through enhanced community policing.
The AU mission said the police officers drawn across Jowhar and surrounding towns attended the training exercise aimed to equip and enhance the skills of the local police to counter terrorists and stem radicalization, especially of young people.
"With the community policing approach, if the Somali Police Force (SPF) collaborates with the members of the public like we emphasized during the training, it will help to identify problems and sit together to find solutions. This will help bring peace and order in Somali," AMISOM community policing adviser Daniel Chuks said in a statement released Tuesday evening.
Chuks said participants of the workshop were taken through relevant topics to enhance collaboration with the community since local communities are the target of extremists.
Ibrahim Sini, the Communication Information Technology Services (CITS) advisor to the AMISOM Police, said the training would help the police officers to foil the recruitment, training and radicalization of the youth.
Sini said terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization have wreaked havoc in Somalia over time.
"Given that, it is important for police officers who are the custodian of maintaining law, implementing law and maintaining peace in Somalia to have appropriate training and capacity to quickly identify and counter the threat of violent extremism," he noted.