©  Derk Segaar/IRIN Hamdi Hershi Mohamed, a female police cadet, among the 150 recruits at the Armo policy academy, northeastern Somalia

ARMO, 21 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - Hamdi Hershi Mohamed, a 17-year-old female police cadet, was among the 150 recruits marching on Tuesday around the compound of the newly opened police academy at Armo, northeastern Somalia.

"I have experienced the effects of the collapse of my government. I decided to come here to defend my country, advise my people [about] peace and revive the sovereignty of my country," Mohamed said.

"I have no fear, I’m ready to defend my dignity and that of the people of my country," she added.

The khaki-clad recruits were encouraged by hundreds of enthusiastic people waving twigs and small posters bearing pictures of Somalia's interim leaders, including Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi, who was among the guests.

The Armo police academy, supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), is located some 100 km south of Bossaso.

Before the official opening ceremony, crowds of Somalis - with many women ululating - had lined the road from Bossaso to Armo to give Gedi a rousing welcome.

"The opening of the academy is a historic moment. It is the first such national institution that has been built in Somalia for a long time," said Maxwell Gaylard, UNDP Somalia resident representative and UN humanitarian coordinator.

"It will be the first step to the re-establishment of the rule of law and security in Somalia," he added.

The recruits, 130 male and 20 female, who joined the academy on 10 December were the first recruits. They were drawn from all over Somalia, Gaylard said.

"There are thousands of militia throughout Somalia, so there is a long way to go before law and order will be restored," Gaylard added. "Together with Somali authorities, we identified 500 militiamen who will soon be retrained in the academy."

The academy would be run and operated by Somalis themselves.

"What we found, quite frankly, is that if you give these young people an opportunity apart from the gun - and if the process is managed properly - they are usually eager to grab it," he added.

Gedi told the ceremony: "The young women and men who will come out of this training will form part of the new Somalia, where the rights of every Somali are protected and the rule of law will prevail.

"We cannot waiver in our quest to change the way things have been for the last decade-and-a-half and more."

Local leader said one of the main challenges facing the new police force was the large number of arms in the hands of civilians.

According to Haji Said Hussein, one of the elders of the Armo community: "In every house, there is a gun."

To contribute to the re-establishment of security in the area, his village had provided the land for the academy at no cost. The new institute also had economic value for the community itself, he said.

"Carrying a gun in Somalia is a natural thing," Gaylard observed. "We are not going to change the culture of Somalis overnight."

Hussein noted, however, that people were carrying guns to protect themselves. "If the rights of the people are protected, there will be no need for the guns," he said.

Gani Mohamed Haji Abdi, commander of the Armo police academy, hoped that the new institute, by incorporating women and former militia members from all parts of Somalia, would become part of the country’s reconciliation process.

"We want an academy that is part of the people, from the people and for the people," he said.

The three-month training course would cover community policing, basic police training, nonviolent disarmament, physical fitness, self-defence, marching and theory. The new recruits would also be instructed on human rights, gender sensitivity, and child and minority protection.

The ultimate aim was to establish a professional civilian police force able to effectively contribute to the restoration of peace while gaining the trust of the community.

Abdellahi Salah Seruwah, who joined the Somali police force in 1974 at the age of 14 and is one of the senior teachers at the new academy, noted: "The police of Somalia was once among the best in Africa, but it disintegrated and we are reviving it right now."

"After 15 years, we don’t want to fight anymore," he added. "We need to put down the gun. The new police are crucial for the internal, local peace."

However, a local aid worker expressed a degree of scepticism, saying one of the main problems facing the force was non-payment of salaries to some officers. As a result, many of them had to look for other sources of income, she said, which sometimes jeopardised their credibility.

"The men and women who finish this course will be proper officers. They will be paid when they leave this compound - through international assistance and Somalia’s own revenues," Gaylard said.

UNDP would also assist the authorities to implement revenue-generating ideas and initiatives, he added, so that they would be able to pay their police force.

[ENDS]

Source: IRIN Dec.21, 2005