Special police force readies to deploy in Xamar
Posted: Fri May 03, 2013 5:03 am
Source: http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articles/ ... feature-02The Somali government plans to deploy a 1,300-strong police force in late May to hunt down al-Shabaab operatives throughout Mogadishu with the aim of preventing attacks and assassinations against peace activists, security forces, journalists and government officials.
"Among the tasks of our new force is to impose curfews, conduct searches, fend off attacks, protect public figures and protect [neighbourhood police outposts]," Somali Minister of Interior and National Security Abdikarim Hussein Guled told Sabahi. "Its members will be different from other forces because of their unique uniforms, equipment, supplies and special vehicles, as well as because they will receive ongoing training inside the country and abroad to maintain their fitness levels."
The special police unit already received training in Somalia and abroad in preparation for their deployment, Guled said. They will be deployed with 120 vehicles painted in a distinctive colour and equipped with advanced radio and alarm equipment.
The new unit is part of the federal government's campaign to step up security and counter-terrorism operations in Mogadishu.
The police unit will work alongside and co-ordinate operations with a 1,000-strong special counter-terrorism unit formed by the Ministry of Defence and drawn from various branches of the armed forces and security services. The military anti-terrorism unit was scheduled to deploy in Mogadishu by the end of April, but was postponed until mid-May.
The police force will be armed and will conduct security patrols day and night, said Mukhtar Hassan Mohamed, head of the registration and monitoring department at the Ministry of Interior and National Security.
"They will take part in operations to maintain peace, to cleanse the city of remnants of the radical group and especially to seal off areas where assassination squads are suspected of hiding," he told Sabahi. "Among their national duties is to target the murderers who escape the scene of the crime and disarm the corrupt militants that do not belong to the security forces."
The special police forces will wear a new uniform that sets them apart from other police forces, and they have been chosen based on specific criteria and skills, since they are considered to be a rapid intervention force, said Abukar Dahir Osman, a permanent secretary at the Ministry of Interior and National Security.
"We will make sure to supply the special patrol cars for the armed police force with cell phones and alarm and monitoring systems throughout all the neighbourhoods in the capital," he told Sabahi. "These cars will be specifically designed for the police since they will be four-wheel drive vehicles capable of chasing militants through sandy roads."
He said the government should also monitor telecommunications to identify suspected militants and gather intelligence about any planned attacks.
"We noticed that there was communication between one of the suicide bombers and an al-Shabaab leader after eight suicide bombers targeted the Benadir court building on April 14th," Osman said. "For this reason, we need to get our hands on advanced technology and surveillance equipment to hinder the plans, hopes and aggressive operations perpetrated by suicide bombers."
Somali government seeks international support
Mohamed said the Ministry of Interior and National Security will ask the United States, the United Kingdom, China, as well as Arab, African and other European countries for substantial support for equipping the police unit with vehicles and helicopters.
Some countries have already pledged to supply the army, police and intelligence services with military equipment to help prevent the al-Qaeda network and its Somali accomplices from planning terrorist attacks, he said.
In April, the Djiboutian government donated 15 armoured vehicles as part of a graduation ceremony for 205 Somali police officers finishing a European-run security training course in Djibouti, and they plan to donate others.
Somalia needs the international community's full support to carry out counter-terrorism operations in Mogadishu, said Abdirashid Enow Nur, a security analyst and political science professor at Mogadishu University. Otherwise, the capital will remain vulnerable to attacks by al-Shabaab, he said.
"Mogadishu still has its doors open to those wanting to plant bombs and wreak havoc without any resistance," Nur told Sabahi.
"Therefore, the government has to hurry up and erect land barriers guarding the northern and southern entrances to the capital in order to control the security situation," he said. "In addition, it should use trained police dogs to help detect explosives and drugs at border crossings and checkpoints because they are more accurate compared to manual inspection devices and because it is a top priority security task."
