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FREETOWN,
Sierra Leone, August 8, 2009 – The African Union said Thursday it would
send a police team to Somalia to mentor officers in the insurgency-hit
country.
AU Deputy Police Commissioner Oliver Somassa said the force represented
a "first step in restoring the rule of law" and would be deployed before
the end of the year.
Speaking in Sierra Leone, where he is recruiting for the operation,
Somassa said: "The AU mission for Somalia is mandated to start off with
270 police officers in the first deployment and the process of our
recruitment includes a mandatory English language exam, driving test and
weapon handling.
"We are also looking out for officers who specialized in mentoring
because the mandate of the Somali mission is to train and mentor the
Somali police as a first step in restoring the rule of law."
Officers would initially be trained for the operation in Ghana or Kenya,
he said.
A six-man AU contingent is spending a week in Sierra Leone's capital
Freetown in a bid to recruit for the police mission.
Somalia is in the grip of a fierce insurgency, with hardline Islamist
militias waging a campaign to topple the African Union-backed
government.
Source: Agence France-Presse, August 6, 2009
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