Baidoa, 4 March 2025 – The Police component of the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) has concluded a week-long training in Baidoa for Somali Police Officers on preventing and countering violent extremism. The AUSSOM Police Training and Development Department trained 12 officers from Shaati Gaduud International Airport Police Station in South West State.
Topics included aviation security, explosives detection, terrorism investigation, incident management, intelligence gathering and suspect processing procedures.
“These courses will build capacity and enhance the skills of participants on preventing and countering violent extremism,” said AUSSOM Police lead trainer, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Alex Magezi at Monday’s closing ceremony.
He said such consistent trainings were important to strengthening security at Somalia’s vital entry and exit points and supporting Somali Security Forces’ preparation to assume full responsibility for the country’s security.
AUSSOM Police South West State lead trainer, Superintendent of Police (SP) Jude Nasucha, commended the strong partnership between AUSSOM and the SSF, and urged participants to apply the knowledge and skills acquired to enhance community policing.
Senior South West State administration officials, including the Minister for Internal Security, Hassan Abdiqadir; the Minister for Transport and Aviation, Hassan Abdinoor; the Mayor of Baidoa, Abdullahi Watin; and Bay Regional Police Commander, Colonel Amin Mohamed attended the closing event.
“This year, we expect many more of such trainings for our police. We have made the request to AUSSOM, and we hope they will respond positively,” said the South West State Minister for Internal Security.
Police Constable Yonis Issack, a participant, thanked AUSSOM for the support to improving on their competencies.
“It was a very engaging training on securing our airport, gathering intelligence, and identifying dangerous items such as explosives,” said Constable Yonis.
Police Constable Jaylani Hassan, another participant, said there was the need to sustain such training initiatives for SPF officers to manage crime.
