Somali troops: toughen up to stay true to whom?

Hundreds of young Somalis completed military training in Uganda last week. The recruits are now bound for home, scheduled to join local armed forces in an ongoing struggle against al-Shabaab militants. By yearend, the number of Uganda-trained military is expected to reach 3,000. But will they stay loyal? Or, like others before them, will they become Somalia’s own worst enemy?

By Arne Doornebal, Bihanga

Bright sunshine reflects off hundreds of brand-new bayonets. Tied to automatic rifles, the bayonets are held by army recruits. Some 600 from Somalia and 200 from Uganda have just completed a six-month training session as part of a European Union-funded programme. By its conclusion in December, the programme will have run for three years.

“Watch out, we will soon see a group of terrorists appear,” warns an army trainer named Wamara. He stands next to some brick buildings constructed to resemble a market area in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Indeed, the “terrorists” emerge.

Minutes later, the recruits storm the buildings. They take out some insurgents and arrest others. Then the exercise is over. Here in the green hills of Bihanga, in Uganda’s Western Region, visitors have just witnessed a simulation of the situation in Somalia.

11 million euros’ worth
The Somali recruits are taught by the Ugandan army together with trainers from the European Union. Spanish, German, Swedish and Maltese soldiers attend today’s final march.

“We have trained four companies of the Somali army,” says Irishman Michael Beary, commander of the training force. “We do not only train the soldiers, but also the commanders. Together they will be a serious force that will make Somalia’s fourth division the most effective one in their army.”

“This training programme has cost us some 11 million euros,” says Maciej Popowski, a high-ranking EU official who came from Brussels to attend the ceremony at Bihanga. “We train three thousand soldiers for that [money], so we can say the price-quality rate of this programme is quite good.”

Defections downplayed
Still, there are reports of Somali recruits who, after training sessions, defect from the national army to join al-Shabaab. Somalia’s Western-backed interim government is unstable, holding only a few areas in Mogadishu, as they continue to fight a revolt by al-Shabaab. The Islamist militants recently merged with al-Qaeda and are said to harbour dozens of Western sympathizers (thus posing a threat to Western security).

Popowski acknowledges there have been defections, but he isn’t too worried. “Yes, defections will always take place," he notes. "But it is not a massive thing. I think the defection rate is under ten percent, which is not bad.”
The Somali recruits in Bihanga claim they have no plans to desert. “When I return to Somalia, I will fight against al-Shabaab,” says 21-year-old Hareed, now a junior officer. Abdirahman, from the Puntland region, concurs. “We will fight al-Shabaab and protect our people,” he says.