The European Union is training 400 Somalis in Uganda as part of its support to the Somalia Transitional Federal Government. These are part of an expected 2,000 troops to be trained at Bihanga in western Uganda.

“We are expecting more to come. However, that will depend on the things happening in Somalia,” said EU mission public relations officer Pita Juan.

The EU training support is in addition to that funded by the US government funded. The African Union Mission to Somalia expects to train 6,000 troops to oversee security.

Several militant groups are fighting the TFG and AU peace keeping forces.

The EU head of mission in Uganda, Vincent De Visscher, said, “The military support is part of the a comprehensive engagement in Somalia with a view to responding to the priority needs of the Somali people and stabilising Somalia.”

The EU training programme will see some 1,000 Somalis trained in the first six months while another 1,000 men will follow in the next six months ending June 2011.

EUTM Somalia

One hundred and fifty EU personnel are conducting the training under a mission named EUTM Somalia and led by Col. Gonzalez Elul from Spain. EU has allocated €5 million ($6 million) for the training.

The EU set up the facilities and training manuals that will be handed over to the Uganda government after the end of the training.

The EU is working in partnership with Uganda government, African Union, US and Somalia.
At the end of the training, the troops will undergo an induction by Amisom before being integrated into the main TFG security system.

“The problems of Somali must be solved by the Somalis themselves, so we continue to appeal to the world to help the Somalis find stability and live a normal life,” said Uganda’s Commander of Land Forces, Lt-Gen Katumba Wamala.