KAMPALA. A total of 587 police officers have sat interviews for African Union (AU) mission jobs in war ravaged country, Somalia.
Interpol spokesperson, Vincent Ssekatte, said the officers who did their interviews at Nsambya Youth Sharing Hall on Tuesday will sit for another final set of exams in May to test their competence before they are deployed in Somalia.
Police said they received a message from AU headquarters in Addis Ababa asking them to nominate officers for AU jobs in Somalia and other conflict trodden countries. Police leadership through Interpol asked eligible officers to show interest. 587 were selected after screening their academic papers, conduct background and health status.
“We first give officers set of exams prepared by our examination body purposely to test their abilities and those who pass are presented to another team of examiners from Addis Ababa,” Mr Ssekatte said.
Sources said, out of 587 officers who did interviews on Tuesday included eleven Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs), 22 Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs), over 40 Superintendents of Police (SP) and Assistant Superintendents (ASPs).
At least 200 officers were at the ranks of Inspector of Police (IP) and Assistant Inspector of Police (AIP) whereas the rest were at ranks of Sargent, Corporal and Constable.
Mr Ssekatte confirmed that there are several senior officers at ranks of ASPs and ACPs who showed interest in AU jobs and they were part of the officers who sat for interviews. He, however, declined to give a breakdown on officers who applied for AU jobs in relations to their ranks.
“What I can say is that all officers below the rank of Commissioner were eligible for these mission jobs. It is the officer’s competence that qualifies or disqualifies him or her but not the ranks,” Mr Ssekatte said.
Police said a team from Addis Ababa will deploy the officers who will have passed the second interview to Somalia with immediate effect.
Last year, a total of 430 police officers did exams for UN mission jobs but more than 80 per cent failed.
