The construction of a rehabilitation center for disengaged combatants in Jubbaland state administration was officially launched on Monday, in Kismaayo.

This is the fourth center to be established in Somalia as part of the government’s National Programme for the Treatment and Handling of Disengaged Combatants.

The construction of Kismaayo’s rehabilitation center funded by the German government, with the support of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), the Federal Government of Somalia, the Jubbaland State and other development partners.

Officials at the ground-breaking ceremony noted that the construction of the center would give the youth who had received wrong ideology an opportunity to reform and be reintegrated into the society again.

During the ceremony, the Governor of Kismaayo, Abdirashid Ali Goni, said the center will provide accommodation and education to those who had quit the terrorist group. “Today we laid a foundation stone for the disengaged combatants in Jubbaland. This is meant to rehabilitate the youths who were misled through ideology so that they can be supported and given accommodation, vocational education and health and to enable them to rejoin their communities,” the governor stated.

The director of the Disengaged Rehabilitation Programme from the Ministry of Internal Security for the Federal Government of Somalia, Malik Abdalla, appealed to the youth who are still part of Al-Shabaab to surrender and reintegrate into the society. “We are sending a message to the youths who were betrayed to come and surrender. We also want them to come out of the problems they are encountering because the people they are killing are Somalis like themselves, their mothers and brothers. We want them to become part of the community and Somalia at large,” said the director.

He thanked the international community, particularly the German Government, for making it possible for the rehabilitation center to be constructed at the former marine compound in Kismaayo.

Addressing the gathering, a representative of UNSOM, Chandrasekhrar Pakala, said it was their hope that the center will be put up quickly to serve the disengaged combatants in Jubbaland state. “We give our full support for this exercise. Hopefully this construction will be complete soon and we will commence the use of the center very soon,” Pakala added.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the rehabilitation center was witnessed by officials from UNSOM, the Federal Government of Somalia’s Ministry of Internal Security and the Jubbaland state administration.

UNSOM has been at the forefront of rehabilitating former Al-Shabaab combatants and helping in the establishment of a similar center in other towns including Baidoa, Belet Weyne and Mogadishu. Besides providing vocational training to ex-combatants, the centers also offer psychological counseling for those who want to rejoin the community.