Europeans and Africans train a new Somali Army: a first for the EU

Deployed in Uganda for the past year, the Europeans are now discreetly completing the training of almost 2,000 Somali soldiers. This represents a new kind of mission for a European Union that is better known for its involvement in economic or social development projects. An example for the future?

This represents a first for the EU: the direct training of elements of an African army. Never before has it committed itself to such a degree in military cooperation. It is not, as in the Congo or Guinea Bissau, a question of assisting a government to plan and implement security services reform (SSR) or helping to disarm militias. The EUTM (*) Somalia mission has the aim of training about 2,000 men ready to fight to ensure Somalia’s stability. The goal is almost achieved. A first battalion of about 800 men and several dozen junior officers was constituted and returned to the field at the end of last year. The second is completing its training this summer. The two battalions will provide AMISOM – the African Union peacekeeping force deployed in Somalia and made up principally of Ugandans and Burundians — with a significant strengthening of capacity in the field.

Several countries involved

Another unique feature of this mission is that it is being implemented in close cooperation with the Americans, the African Union and Uganda. The soldiers are selected in Somalia by the forces of the transitional government and of AMISOM, assisted by the Americans, and then transported to Uganda where, they are taken by the Ugandans to the Bihanga camp in the west of the country. The training is then given by the Ugandans and Europeans over a period of five to six months.

On their return to Somalia the new recruits will rejoin the army and have their performance monitored by the AMISOM forces. They will serve the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, which with this help hopes to extend its authority, at present limited to the capital, Mogadishu. To ensure that the soldiers do not desert, a payment chain has been set up so that all the soldiers receive their wages.

Ten or so European countries are directly participating in the training. Spaniards (the mission chief, Colonel Ellu, is Spanish), French, Greeks, Portuguese, Belgians, Luxembourgers, Germans, Swedes, Finns, Hungarians and Maltese can all be seen in Bihanga.

Tailor-made training

The training programme was carefully developed by the Africans and Europeans, as one senior European officer confirms: “We specialise in the training of young officers and non-commissioned officers as well as specialised soldiers (medical evacuation, IEDs or roadside bombs, combat in urban zones, communications, etc.). At the same time, the Ugandans give young recruits basic training. And as the six months’ training progresses we mix our efforts so as to be able to constitute complete units when the course comes to an end.”

General Edward Katumba Wamala, commander of the Ugandan Land Forces, sees this mixed training as a really “good idea”. “In the field in Mogadishu, we were able to see where the Somali Army suffered serious shortcomings: in medical services, communications and combating IEDs for example. The European team brings us all this expertise. We are therefore going to be able to train a complete unit.” But – he adds – this mission has a wider and ‘more political’ significance. “The message is clear: the Somali problem is one that concerns us all and that must be resolved by us all. It is not just for Uganda or Burundi (which provide most of the AMISOM forces) to resolve the problem, or for the African Union alone. It is a wider problem. Everybody can and must contribute to Somalia’s stability.”

A year of reflection before the “green light”

• 23 April 2009, at an international conference in Brussels, the Europeans and the international community pledged to help Somalia: 213 million dollars, half of which from the EU and its Member States
• 18 May 2009, France, which had just completed its training of Somali soldiers in Djibouti, presented the “pilot initiative” in Brussels.
• 26 May 2009, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1872 calling on states to “provide technical assistance to train and equip Somali security forces”.
• 27 July 2009, EU foreign ministers approved the principle of EU action to “contribute to the efforts of the international community, especially in the field of security.” The mission planning began.
• 25 January 2010, the EU approved the “setting up of a military mission to contribute to the training of Somali security forces in Uganda”. The first preparatory teams for the mission arrived in Uganda.
• 7 April 2010, the EU gave the green light for the mission to begin on 5 May.

“An example for the rest of Africa”

Arnaud Danjean, accompanied by a small team of MEPs, visited the mission in the field in early May. As chairman of the European Parliament Sub-Committee on Defence, he agreed to sum up his initial conclusions on the EUTM’s results for The Courrier. “I had some questions before leaving. And what I have seen in the field has removed these doubts. We have a mission here that offers good value for money. It is light in terms of men, equipment and finances. And its impact goes far beyond the training of soldiers. We are involved in the whole security chain.” Nevertheless, it will no doubt be necessary to extend the mission and, more widely, “take more account of security concerns when considering development issues. The European diplomatic service (EEAS) must reflect on this. The EUTM is an example – without necessarily having the weight of a CSDP mission – of what we can do, for the Sahel, the Côte d’Ivoire or, in future, in Libya.”

(*) EUTM / European Union Training Mission
* Journalist, expert on European defence policy, Editor of Bruxelles2 http://www.bruxelles2.eu

Nicolas Gros-Verheyde