Somali Police Force And AMISOM Ensuring Safety Through Joint Night Operations

The Somali Police Force together with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Police component are engaging in tactical night operations, aimed at ridding Mogadishu of criminal elements.

These include joint night patrols, cordon and search operations as well as mounting snap checkpoints targeting night motorists; as AMISOM mentors and empowers SPF to independently carry out operations.

According to Abbedi Samuel, the AMISOM Police the Formed Police Unit commander, vehicles are searched for all forms of dangerous items including Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs): “We have been recovering so many things like guns and even arresting the suspected Al-Shabaab and that’s a result of this cordon and search,” he says.

Corporal Noor Abdi from the Somali Police Force says the two enjoys a good working relationship that has been the basis of the success attained.

“We work very well with AMISOM. We support each other in the conduct of the work. They come to us, we go to them,” he says. AMISOM Police has a mandate to provide operational support to the Somali Police Force through mentoring police officers in order to build the capacity of the SPF to perform policing functions according to international policing standards. Superintendent of Police Akande Abubakar Aliu from the AMISOM Police says they will not relent in the efforts to restore peace and stability in Mogadishu and Somalia in general.