Thursday, September 20, 2012
A Formed Police Unit (FPU) of Nigerian police officers arrived in Mogadishu on Sunday, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) announced Tuesday (September 18th).
An FPU is a team of 140 police officers who undertake crowd control, protect UN staff and material, and escort UN personnel when they visit insecure regions. The Nigerian FPU is the second such unit to arrive in Somalia and will join the Ugandan FPU currently deployed in Mogadishu.
Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra thanked the African Union and the government of Nigeria for deploying the unit to support the people of Somalia.
"Nigeria already has Individual Police Officers (IPOs) in Somalia and the deployment of FPUs clearly demonstrates its strong commitment to peace and stability, not only in Somalia but also the entire continent," he said.
In addition to normal duties, the two FPUs in Somalia will protect IPOs training the Somali Police Force.