Standardised Somali police recruit curriculum is endorsed by police chiefs

12 May 2017

Standardised Somali police recruit curriculum is endorsed by police chiefs

Mogadishu, 11 May 2017 - Somali police chiefs from federal and federal member state governments have approved a new police recruit curriculum.

The standardised curriculum will be used in training courses throughout the country to improve levels of professionalism in law enforcement agencies.

The police chiefs signed an agreement that formally endorsed the curriculum during a meeting of the Police Working Group in the capital Mogadishu on 11 May 2017.

The meeting was attended by senior Somali Police Force officers, senior police representatives from Galmudug, Hirshebelle, Puntland and South West State, United Nations agencies, European Union Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP) in Somalia, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the international community. 

“The new police recruit training curriculum approved today is highly beneficial to the police and everyone with an interest in law and order,” said Col. Adan Ahmed Abdi ‘Bariyow’, the Police Training Chief for Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions in South West State.

He explained that the new curriculum would help the police to restore the rule of law in the federal and State administrations.

The Police Professional Development Board developed the new curriculum through a joint effort of the Federal Government of Somalia and the Federal Member States with support from the international community, including the United Nations Joint Rule of Law Programme, EUCAP Somalia and AMISOM.  The approval of the curriculum follows the 16 April 2017 political agreement on a National Security Architecture reached by Federal President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed ‘Farmaajo’ and the presidents of the federal member states. 

It also took place on the same day that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told delegates at the London Somalia Conference that “it is time to have one single programme of training for Somali soldiers and Somali police, and that single programme of training to be led by the Somali institutions.”

Gen. Bashir Abdi Mohamed, the federal Deputy Police Commissioner, appealed to Somalia’s development partners to give Somali police the resources they need to carry out their duties. He also called for the rehabilitation of damaged police stations.

“Training and enhancing the capacity of someone does not mean that he will get the job done if he is not equipped. Training without equipment is worthless,” Gen. Bashir noted.

UN Police Commissioner Christoph Buik said the approval of the curriculum was a step in the right direction for security sector reform.  

“We would like to assure that all the police officers in Somalia in future will receive the same training standards all over the country. It does not matter if the police officer will serve in the respective State police or on the Federal level. The training will be always the same. And this is a huge step forward,” Mr. Buik stated.