Somalia police officers train in Kenya

A total of 250 recruits from war-torn Somalia are undergoing police training at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) training school in Manyani.

The recruits, some of them former militiamen and self confessed cross border outlaws, are on a three-month course to offer protection to their VIPs.

Police Spokesperson Gideon Kibunja said the recruits were drawn from the Somali police and were being trained on how to protect their leaders and visiting dignitaries.

The Kenya Government will meet the cost of the training with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The two partners are footing the bill of the training with Kenya offering technical expertise, venue and personnel while UNDP is providing some of the resources.

Kibunja said the Kenya Police had borrowed the training ground from KWS as the latter had no trainees at the institution currently. He said the paramilitary training was being offered by the Kenya Police.

“Kiganjo would not have been ideal for the officers as the terrain is different from their homeland in Somalia. Manyani’s lay of the land and the climate are almost similar to that in Somalia,” explained Kibunja.

He said the Somalia police officers were only being taught combat techniques and how to jump out and in of moving vehicles, as a component of VIP protection.

The police are also being taught human rights as well as gender issues to enable them deal with the changing society and its needs.

Source: Standard,  April 24, 2006