Ghana is set to deploy to Somalia, a contingent of 160 police personnel from the country’s Formed Police Unit (FPU).
Ghana’s deployment of additional officers to the Horn of Africa country, is in response to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2431(2018), which recommended an increment in numbers of police personnel under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Resolution 2431 authorizes member states of the African Union to maintain deployment of AMISOM until 31 May 2019, including a minimum of 1,040 police personnel, including five Formed Police Units (FPUs), under the ongoing transition.
AMISOM police component currently has three FPUs, and is seeking to bridge the shortfall, to arrive at authorized numbers.
“We are just about to kick-start training of personnel,” confirmed the Director of International Relations in the Ghana Police Service and leader of the delegation, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Baba Saanid Adamu, who added that Ghana Police had already notified the AU Commission to send an assessment team to the West African country.
“Hopefully, by the mid-March, we would have concluded training and assessment. We will then begin the next phase which includes inspection of the contingent-owned equipment, ready to be airlifted and transported to Mogadishu and onward to Baidoa,” ACP Adamu added.
