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org Issue 4, 15 April 2010

Added Strength
Ten Kenyan Police Officers are joining AMISOM
Police Component in Somalia

Public Service
The TFG stresses the need for citizen services
during AMISOM workshop in Kampala

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah
The UN special representative for Somalia says
status quo is “not an option”

Humanitarian Effort

Year Three
AMISOM’s life-saving aid easing Somalis
suffering

Health and Hope

The AMISOM hospital is treating more than two
dozen Somali women suffering from fistula, a

AMISOM marks its third

condition that leaves many females shunned

Model Behavior
Burundian troops in Somalia are offering stories
of peace and reconciliation based on their own
country’s experience with war
anniversary in Somalia
First Person
A former child soldier remembers a young
life in arms

A bout 10 officers from the Kenya Police Force
will soon be deployed with the African Union
Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), fur-
thering efforts to build up the Somali Police Force.
The AMISOM police taskforce is mandated
to train, mentor, monitor and advise the Somali
Police Force to bring it up to international stan-
dards. As part of that effort, a series of Selection
Assistant Test (SAT) exercises were conducted on
29-31 March 2010 in Nairobi to identify possible
Ten Kenyan Police Officers are joining
AMISOM Police Component in Somalia
AMISOM BULLETIN - ISSUE 4, 2010
Added Strength
candidates for posts with AMISOM in Somalia.
Out of 136 police officers presented for the SAT
exercises by the Kenyan Police Commissioner,
78 were selected for AU medical examinations.
Ten from that group will be chosen and deployed
to AMISOM Police Component in Mogadishu.
The SAT exercises were conducted by AMISOM
Police Chief of Staff Isaac Samsom, AMISOM
Police Coordinator for Reform and Restructur-
ing Emmanuel Mbonirema and two experts from
2 AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA
the AU Strategic Planning Unit, Commissioners
Chege and Chirenje.
Similar exercises have gone forward in Sierra
Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda, putting about
600 officers currently on the AU deployment ros-
ter. Seven AMISOM police peacekeepers from
Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda have
already been deployed to Mogadishu and are cur-
rently developing manuals and other training ma-
terials with their Somali counterparts. g
 The TFG stresses
the need for citizen
services during
AMISOM workshop
in Kampala

T he Transitional Federal Government of

Somalia urgently needs an efficient pub-
lic service sector that can deliver services to
the people of Somalia. This was the subject
of a three-day consultative needs assessment
workshop held in Kampala, Uganda, on 24-26
March 2010. Organized by the African Union
Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the workshop
brought 26 senior TFG officials together with
senior officials from AMISOM and experts
from Uganda and Rwanda. The TFG delega-
tion was led by the Minister for Labour and
Human Resources Development Mohamed
Abdi Hayir.
Addressing participants, Deputy Special
Representative of the Chairperson of the Afri-
can Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia
Hon. Wafula Wamunyinyi said: “Normalcy
can only return to Somalia if the government
is able to provide basic services to the people,
and this can be made possible if there is a pub-
lic service that is equipped with the necessary
knowledge and is committed to service deliv-
ery.”
Speaking for the host country, Chief of Land
Forces of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces
(UPDF) Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala agreed,
noting that the deteriorating humanitarian sit-
uation in Somalia underscored the immediate
need for basic public services for Somalis.
Participants at the workshop examined the
shortcomings of public services in Somalia,
sizing up the staffing, training, infrastructure
and equipment needs in order to launch an
overall action plan. Experts stressed the need
for an effective retention scheme that would
ensure long-term sustainability of the project.
It was agreed that the AU/AMISOM will begin
implementing the plan as early as May 2010
and will reach out to partners for the necessary
funding and support.
Participants also expressed appreciation
to AMISOM Troop Contributing Countries,
namely Burundi and Uganda, for their com-
mitment to peace in Somalia and appealed to
other African countries to support the peace-
keeping efforts in Somalia by sending addi-

Public Service
tional forces.
The Kampala workshop stemmed from the
African Union’s belief that the building of
TFG institutional capacity is an essential com-
ponent of the quest for peace, security and sta-
bility in Somalia. g

AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA 3 AMISOM BULLETIN - ISSUE 4, 2010

 AMISOM marks its third
anniversary in Somalia
O n 6 March 2007, some 350 Ugandan troops
landed in Mogadishu as the first batch of
peacekeepers for the African Union Mission in
Somalia (AMISOM). Within a few days, Uganda
completed a deployment of over 1,700 troops that
constituted the first AU contingent in Somalia
since the collapse of the Somali state in 1991. Bu-
rundi followed, and by January 2008 it had also
completed its deployment.
The mission has since gradually grown over the
last three years, and today AMISOM forces num-
ber around 6,000. AMISOM is mandated to pro-
vide support to the Transitional Federal Institutions
(TFIs) in their efforts to stabilise the country and
further dialogue and reconciliation. Additionally,
AMISOM is required to facilitate humanitarian
assistance and contribute to creating conditions
conducive for reconstruction and development.
Under the circumstances, the undermanned and
under-funded mission has done well in serving the
people, protecting the interim Somali government,
securing the Mogadishu international airport, sea-
port and the presidential palace complex. Both the
airport and seaport are major economic lifelines for
the interim government and continue to offer ser-
vices to the population.
AMISOM at the same time provides about
60,000 litres of safe drinking water per day to
hundreds of neighbouring families and offers free
medical services, including surgery, to thousands
of Somalis. AMISOM now runs two hospitals –
one in the main base near the airport and the sec-
AMISOM BULLETIN - ISSUE 4, 2010
Year Three
ond at the former Somali National University in
northwest Mogadishu. Both facilities receive and
treat more than 2,000 patients per week. Though
the facilities are too ill-equipped to give optimal
service to the civilian population, they nonethe-
less offer the most sought medical services in So-
malia. Patients come from as far as Bosasso in the
semiautonomous region of Puntland. AMISOM
medical staff do not discriminate among patients.
Everyone, including wounded fighters from oppo-
sition groups, is welcome and treated. According
to Chief Medical Officer Col. Dr. James Kiyengo
the most common ailments treated at AMISOM
facilities include malaria, malnutrition, hepatitis,
tumors and gun shot wounds.
Somalis are grateful for the health services
they receive from AMISOM. Nur Haji Muridi, a
40-year-old father of five, traveled from Bosasso,
about 1,000 km north of Mogadishu, to save his
foot after it was pierced by a nail in a garage. “I
will always be grateful to AMISOM for saving
my foot from amputation,” he said. “I went to
three hospitals in Mogadishu and was told that my
foot was rotten. The AMISOM doctors operated
on it and saved me. It’s a miracle, and I will always
be thankful to them.”
Suldana Mohamed, 60, is a mother of six and
a grandmother to about a dozen children. She
too expressed gratitude to Dr. Juvenal Nibogora,
a Burundian physician who removed a tumor of
hers. “May God bless you doctor,” she said. “I am
feeling much better. I didn’t even feel pain during
4 AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA
the operation. Your hands are blessed by the many
poor people you assist.”
At the main AMISOM base adjacent to the
Mogadishu airport, the Ugandan contingent
commander, Col. Tumusiime Katsigazi, assured
the people of Somalia that AMISOM will never
abandon them. “We have to bring in more medi-
cal facilities to improve our capacity to assist the
people,” he said. “We will continue offering our
services to the people until the security situation
is normalized and the population can get treat-
ment elsewhere.”
As expected, the first three years of AMISOM
in Somalia have not been easy. The mission has
paid a heavy price in its endeavour to restore
peace in a country that has not had a central gov-
ernment since the 1991 ouster of former President
Mohamed Siad Barre. More than 70 AMISOM
peacekeepers have lost their lives, and dozens
more have been injured in attacks by Islamist
militants determined to topple the Transitional
Federal Government that AMISOM is mandated
to support. AMISOM Force Commander Maj.
Gen. Nathan Mugisha deeply regrets the loss of
life and suffering both in AMISOM and among
the civilian population and hopes that the conflict
in Somalia will soon come to an end. In a speech
marking the occasion, Mugisha said: “As we com-
memorate the third anniversary of the deployment
of AMISOM, let us all work together to enable the
people of Somalia to bring this hemorrhage to an
end, before it becomes a tragedy for the world.” g
 The UN special
representative
for Somalia says
status quo is
“not an option.”
U N Special Representative for Somalia Ahm-
edou Ould-Abdallah hailed recent progress
in the Somali peace process during an appearance
in Nairobi - but stressed the need for more work
to be done.
“We are a quarter of the way into the second
year of the TFG’s term and managing the status
quo is not an option,” the envoy said in remarks
delivered 26 March 2010. “A number of firm and
significant steps have been made that show the
willingness and ability of the government to use
this transitional period wisely and for the benefit
of the Somali people.”
Ould-Abdallah said the signing of an agreement
between the Somali government and Ahlu Sunnah
Wal Jama’a that took place 15 March was an addi-
tional indication of the government’s commitment
to work with all willing parties towards restoring
peace and reconciliation.
On the 23 March, Ould-Abdallah, together
with the Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali
Sharmarke and Ambassador Boubacar G. Diarra,
head of the African Union Mission to Somalia
(AMISOM), opened a meeting of the Joint Se-
curity Committee (JSC) in Nairobi. The meeting
looked focused on progress made to date on the
AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA
Ahmedou
Ould-Abdallah
issue of security in Somalia, with the participants
also discussing further steps the Somali govern-
ment can take. Training initiatives supported by
the European Union and the other members of the
international community were also assessed.
“Increasingly, and at a realistic pace, the gov-
ernment is working together with Somalis and
its international partners to achieve the bench-
marks within the framework of the Djibouti Peace
Agreement,” Ould-Abdallah said.
A three-week workshop in Djibouti convening
members of the Independent Federal Constitu-
tional Commission (IFCC) ended on 23 March
with new parameters laid out for the constitutional
process. The commission -- previously made up
of 15 members of the TFG -- extended its partici-
pants to 30 and appointed a new chairperson. The
group agreed on an organizational chart, delegat-
ing responsibilities to various standing commit-
tees and thematic subgroups in areas such as civic
education, legal affairs and public awareness. The
IFCC is expected to have a final draft constitution
prepared by the beginning of July.
A conference addressing Somalia’s reconstruc-
tion and development is expected to take place on
22 May in Istanbul, hosted by the government of
5 AMISOM BULLETIN - ISSUE 4, 2010
Turkey. High-level participation from Somalia
and its partners will convene to discuss concrete
projects. Also, the League of Arab States will host
a conference on Somalia 21 and 22 April in Cairo,
where delegates of the TFG will meet members of
the International Contact Group to follow up on a
previous meeting held in Jeddah last year.
Ould-Abdallah said he held talks with Span-
ish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cuyaubé, Spanish Sec-
retary of State Angel Lossada Torres-Quevedo
and their close associates in Madrid to outline
plans for the upcoming meetings and conferences
in Cairo and Istanbul. He said that the Spanish
officials expressed their continuing interest in
raising the international profile of Somalia to help
promote stability and security and address piracy
off the Somali coast.
“Even though it is still faced with a number
of critical challenges, the Somali government is
increasingly a credible partner,” Ould-Abdallah
said. “If it and the international community stay
the course and remain focused, by August 2011
Somalia will have a solid foundation on which to
build.” g
W ith virtually no public services available in Mogadishu, one of
AMISOM’s most important tasks has been to ease the suffering of
the population through humanitarian assistance. Every day around 800
ailing Somalis seek medical assistance from the two outpatient field clinics
run by AMISOM doctors. A similar number of residents also get their daily
supply of safe water for domestic use from the African Union peacekeep-
ers. And since most international humanitarian agencies have withdrawn
from southern Somalia owing to security concerns, Somalis in need are
increasingly looking towards AMISOM for help.
“Every other time I visit the field clinics I am really saddened,” AMISOM
Spokesman Maj. Ba-Hoku Barigye said during one of his many visits to the
main outpatient clinic near the airport run by Ugandan doctors. “The suf-
fering of the population is just too much. We have gone beyond our abil-
ity to help the population. We firmly believe that with the right support
AMISOM and the government can really save more lives in Somalia.”
AMISOM Senior Humanitarian Officer Abdul Diabagate the suffering
of the population calls for a more robust approach. Diabagate appealed for
a more vigorous and timely intervention by the world to ease suffering in
Somalia, which is in the grips of one of the worst humanitarian crises the
country has seen in two decades of internal conflict.
“AMISOM continues to provide critically needed humanitarian assis-
tance under increasingly life threatening conditions,” said Diabagate, who
oversees donations of drugs and medical equipment sent by the Somali di-
Humanitarian
Effort
AMISOM’s life-saving aid
easing Somalis suffering
AMISOM BULLETIN - ISSUE 4, 2010
aspora, the British government and the United Nations Support Office for
AMISOM. “It is important to note that our little humanitarian assistance
is easing civilians suffering, but as you can see our interventions are not
enough. We need more support and hope that the international community,
including world leaders, will take advantage of AMISOM’S presence on
the ground to advance humanitarian issues.”
Mahado Ali is among the scores of Somalis receiving vital AMISOM
humanitarian assistance. With no income and a family to support, the
65-year-old widow and mother of five is grateful for the support.
“We live just opposite the base,” Ali said while clutching her 3-year-old
son Ahmed Hassan in a queue with other patients waiting to be seen by an
AMISOM doctor at the clinic. “My son has diarrhea. I came to treat him
free of charge at the clinic. The peacekeepers also provide us with safe
drinking water. Our safety is also guaranteed here. Life would have been
terrible without the support we receive from AMISOM.”
Several tents inside the base serve as the main in-patient hospital, where
dozens of ailing Somalis can be seen lying in the open. The facility badly
needs refurbishing. An AMISOM nurse who declined to be named sum-
marized Somalia’s critical humanitarian situation this way.
“We virtually use the same supplies meant for the peacekeepers to assist
these poor people,” she said. “We have the capacity to assist many more
but we just can’t. If only the world could provide much more support, the
suffering here would have been history.” g
By Guled Mohamed
6 AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA
 The AMISOM hospital is
treating more than two dozen
Somali women suffering from
fistula, a condition that leaves
many females shunned
Health and Hope
By Guled Mohamed
I n general, women who develop fistulas are often abandoned by their
husbands, rejected by their communities and forced to live in isolation
because of the condition’s telltale symptom, a persistent odor of urine and
excrement. Mothers who have endured long labors are particularly prone to
fistula, which causes incontinence owing to torn tissue around the birth ca-
nal. But the AMISOM hospital is currently offering treatment to more than
30 women who can now hope to have a normal life again.
Thirty-seven Somali women have recently undergone surgery for fistula at
AMISOM facilities. Donations from the Somali diaspora plus support from
the Coalition of Grassroots Women Organizations (COGWO) have helped
make the operations possible. Health officials suspect that hundreds of So-
mali women may be suffering in silence with fistula, despite the treatment
available at the AMISOM hospital. While difficult childbirth is normally the
main cause of fistula, the condition can also stem from sexual assault and
female genital mutilation, a common practice in Somalia. Maka Adan Maa-
lim, 29, endured fistula for 15 years in her hometown of Baidoa after labor
complications left her firstborn child dead.
“During my first birth I developed fistula and unfortunately lost my baby,”
Maalim said. “My husband divorced me because I smelt from urine and feces. I
silently suffered this problem for 15 years until I heard about this facility in No-
vember last year. I am now very happy and ready to go home to my mother af-
AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA
ter successful operations. I can never thank AMISOM and COGWO enough.”
Maalim also offered advice to other Somali women with similar problems,
saying they should seek help at the AMISOM facilities like she did.
“This is a very depressing and disturbing condition,” she said, speaking
from her bed at the AMISOM hospital. “Please be strong even if you are
divorced and come to AMISOM and COGWO for assistance. This condition
is manageable. Please don’t suffer in silence like I did.”
Col. Dr. James Kyengo, the head of AMISOM medical facilities, said that
fistula could be a manageable ailment for women in Somalia like it is on other
countries with a little more support from donors and well wishers.
“Although donors and NGO’s support the fistula programme, we still need more
assistance as the number of women needing treatment keeps rising,” Kyengo said.
The stigma surrounding fistula leaves many women trying to hide their
condition. COGWO has hired elderly women as field data collectors who
search cities and villages for women eligible for treatment, which is free at
AMISOM facilities.
“Most of these women are poor and divorced, leaving them depressed and
deeply disturbed by the condition,” said Zahra Mohamed, the chief executive
officer of COGWO. “It takes them several months to heal and regain their
beauty and confidence. Now that they are healthy some of them have already
started receiving phone calls from the same men who neglected them.” g
7 AMISOM BULLETIN - ISSUE 4, 2010
 S ix years ago many of the Burundian soldiers now
serving together in Somalia were enemies in the
battle for control of their country. But a lasting peace
agreement signed in 2004 has allowed the onetime foes
to form a unity force of some 2,600 AMISOM peace-
keepers standing shoulder to shoulder in Somalia now.
This is what genuine reconciliation can bring in a war-
torn country. Welcome to the story of hope and reconcili-
ation -- the Burundi style -- as a living example to the
Somali people.
Brig. Gen. Niyongabo Prime is the commander of the
Burundian AMISOM peacekeeping contingent in Soma-
lia. But in a previous life Prime was a Burundian rebel,
a member of an oppositionist party called the Council
for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense
of Democracy, or simply CNDD-FDD, led by Burun-
dian President Pierre Nkurunziza. Prime’s deputy, Col.
Ndayishimiye Joseph, was a member of the Burundi
National Armed Force, the same government Prime and
his CNDD-FDD rebel group battled around the country
during the ten-year civil war. Both men are today lead-
ing two battalions of Burundian peacekeepers, many of
whom were also former enemies themselves.
“My deputy and I were enemies during the Burundi
civil war. Now we are working together, there is no prob-
lem between us,” the soft-spoken Prime said in the Siyad
Barre Military academy in western Mogadishu, the main
base for the Burundi peacekeepers. “When we were
fighting each other in Burundi we did not have foreign
fighters within our ranks. That made it easy for us to rec-
oncile. Am not sure the al-Shabab can now talk to the
government mainly because of the influence of foreign
militants who are fugitives and don’t want any peace at
all. This is the problem in Somalia at the moment.”
Sitting alongside Prime, Joseph pointed to members Burundian troops in Somalia are offering stories of
of the current Somali government as an example of how peace and reconciliation based on their own
reconciliation can work in Somalia despite difficulties.
“Inda’ade, the former defence chief of the Islamic
country’s experience with war
Courts forces and Gobale, who was also a senior com-
mander, are a good example for the rest,” Joseph said.
“They reconciled with their enemies and are now in gov-
ernment.”
Inda’ade also known, as Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Si-
yad, is Somalia’s current minister of state for defense.
The bearded Inda’ade, who has survived several assassi-
nation attempts by al-Shabab, echoed Joseph’s comment.
“I was an al-Shabab commander, I know their men-
tality,” Inda’ade said. “They want to control the whole
world. This is not a problem for Somalia only. Instead
of the rest of the world waiting for al-Shabab bullets and
bombs to ignite in their respective countries we should
extinguish it here in Somalia where it’s possible to tame
them. The government needs support in order to elimi-
nate their threat.”
Prime agrees. He often advises the Somali government
to shore up public support and believes that al-Shabab
and other insurgents waging attacks against the TFG and
AMISOM forces are weak enough to be defeated if inter-

Model Behaviour
national help is forthcoming.
“It’s up to the world to decide whether they want the
fugitives they have chased in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan
and Yemen to continue getting a safe haven in Somalia,”
Prime said. “This country needs just a little remedy. I urge
our African brothers to seriously consider helping Soma-
lia before these terrorists come to their doorsteps.” g By Guled Mohamed
AMISOM BULLETIN - ISSUE 4, 2010 8 AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA
Nearly two years ago al-Shabab fighters colluded with a Quranic teacher
to kidnap 20 children from the Fagah area of north Mogadishu and con-
scripted the youths. One of the children captured and forced to fight by the
militant group was a 12-year-old who goes by the name Sharif. He spoke to
reporters in April at Mogadishu’s Villa Somalia Presidential Palace, where
he now lives under the watchful eye of the AMISOM commander. Sharif
said al-Shabab often intoxicates its fighters, who are mostly under age. He
showed journalists a swelling on his right bicep, where he said his al-Shabab
handlers injected him with an unknown drug that supposedly gave him su-
perhuman fighting powers. Sharif’s military training began shortly after
capture, he said, offering a full account of what happened in lengthy remarks
transcribed below.

I used to live in Fagah area of Mogadishu with my parents and siblings.

One day our Quranic teacher took us to his house to go and pray for a sick
woman. As soon as we reached his house we were surrounded by masked
al-Shabab armed men. They fired at us and a bullet hit close to the teacher’s
legs. He fled and left us.
I don’t know exactly when they kidnapped us, but it was when Abdullahi
Yusuf was still in power, some time six months before he left. The next day
before we left I saw our Quranic teacher receiving money from al-Shabab
officials presumably for delivering us to them. I think he was a swindler who
took money in order to enlist us with al-Shabab. They took us to Modmodey,
where we joined a larger group and were all taught rifle handling and shoot-
ing skills before deployment.
The training camp was big. They divided us into smaller groups. We start-
ed receiving military training. They taught us how to fire and service a rifle.
We were taught everything from pistols to AK-47 rifles. I can dismantle and
assemble any rifle. We are also taught ambush skills. After a few months we
were deployed around the country. I was among those sent to Beletweyne.
In Beletweyne I took part in many battles, including the fighting against
the Ahlul Sunnah group in the central regions. They kept rotating us after a
few months. I was then deployed to Mogadishu. When I came to Mogadishu
I only saw two out of my former 20 classmates who were kidnapped together.
I don’t know where the others went. I believe they must have died.
The al-Shabab commanders always injected us with a drug before going
out to fight. The drug gave us dreamlike bravery. I was so high and so strong
Sharif shows the spot on his arm
where he says he was injected
I thought I could simply grab our enemies and throw them away like stones.
It was not true and I lost many colleagues during these battles.
I have not spoken to or seen my parents since I was kidnapped. I fear that
if I go and look for them the al-Shabab will find out and trace them to fin-
ish them off. A month ago, an older boy in my group secretly told us he had
spoken to a government commander in the nearby district and was planning
to escape. He had arranged everything with the commander.
When the day to escape finally came, we silently walked out pretending we
were going for a routine patrol. We had to move out in groups of two to avoid sus-
picion. We finally reached the destination where we were supposed to be picked
up. That’s how I got where I am now. I have been here for almost a month now.
In Villa Somalia, I don’t do anything. I eat and sleep with the AMISOM
forces. The commander is a good person. He has been very kind to me. If
there is anything I miss most and wish I could do it is to go to school. I just
want to get an education. g

First Person
By Guled Mohamed

A former child soldier

remembers a young
Sharif meets Somali Prime Minister
life in arms
Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke

AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA 9 AMISOM BULLETIN - ISSUE 4, 2010

AMISOM News Bulletin is a Bimonthly publication of the African Union Mission in Somalia
Editor-in-Chief: Gaffel G. Nkolokosa
Spokesperson, Force Headquarters: Major Barigye Ba-Hoku
Field Reports: Lt Col Adolphe Manirakiza / Capt Chris Magezi
Photos: Stuart Price
Design/Layout: Zvezdan Djukanovic
Editorial Assistance: AU/UN Information Support Team
P.O Box 20182 – 00200, Phone: +254 202 713 755 /56 /58
Nairobi, Kenya Fax: +254 202 713 766
Website: www.africa-union.org 9 Email: amisomhom@gmail.com