By Hasbin Shaw in Freetown, Sierra Leone
The Sierra Leone Police says it has deployed 145 officers to Somalia for peacekeeping operations. The police made the disclosure April 16, 2018. The contingent left the shores of Sierra Leone April 16th to join the African Union Peacekeeping Mission to Somalia.
Momoduba Andrew Kaiba Bangura, the deputy Contingent Commander to Somalia said the 145 personnel will help maintain peace in Somali, adding, “We are the first set of troops that are travelling to Somalia as Formed Police Unit (FPU) to help maintain peace in Somalia; we are going there for one year.”
Bangura said the troops would be joining other troops from different countries in this mission, like Ugandans, Ethiopians and Kenyans. “The UN special chartered Flight will be travelling with us from Freetown to Yaoundé in Cameroon, from there to Nairobi in Kenya, but when we get to Nairobi we will not disembark we will continue to stay in the plain,” he added.
The Sierra Leoneans FPU would head to Mogadishu where they would transit to Kismayo because there is no big air field in Kismayo for big planes to land that is why they would be entering the shores of Kismayo by bits.
The first and second set of troops to disembark would be in 30 numbers, but the fourth and fifth would be in 47’s till the 145 men get to Somalia as planned.
“When we get to Somalia, the government of Sierra Leone will be taking care of all our needs in the next two months, and after that, the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) are going to be responsible for us until we complete the one year mission,” he said
He added that the government of Sierra Leone would handle the entitlement for this mission, while the AU and UN will be sending their wages to the government of Sierra Leone and the government will pay them only when they return from the mission.
Inspector Steven Salifu Mansaray who is the operation officer of the peacekeeping department of ierra Leone Police Headquarters told our Correspondent that the mission is with the priority to help the Somalis in order to sustain peace in their country equally as other countries have done for Sierra Leone.
“The Sierra Leone Police are going for the African Union Mission in Somalia to cooperate with the Somalia police already in ground to maintain peace,” he noted.
