By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Sierra Leone Police (SLP) is set to dispatch 160 police officers to Somalia on a peace keeping mission this month.
An SLP spokesman said the men personnel will be deployed in two batches of 80 each. The first batch is expected to depart Freetown this Saturday, 6th September.
All 160 personnel from the Formed Police Unit (FPU) has already completed all necessary preparations and training needed to be deployed in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, according to the SLP, which said that the second batch is scheduled to depart on the 29th of September.
Sierra Leone currently has a contingent of 160 FPU in Somalia that is waiting to be replaced and subsequently returned to the country.
ASP Samuel Saio Conteh, Deputy Police Media and Public Relations Officer, told Politico that they are deploying in batches as a measure against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that upon the arrival of the first batch of 80 personnel on Saturday, a set of 80 officers from the current contingent in Somali, who has been there since 2019, will take off for Freetown the following day, Sunday 7th September. Conteh said deployment of the second batch will take the same format.
He went on to note that upon arrival of the personnel, they will have to undergo 14 days period of quarantine in Mogadishu, before they are finally deployed for duty in their respective stations.
“Those that are going will form one contingent, which is 160, to form the FPU. And they will pass through all necessary COVID protocols,” Conteh said, adding that the personnel will take a period of one year.
The contingent include Individual Police Officers (IPO), who include procurement officers, communications officers, and transport officers, said Conteh, noting that the main functions of the FPU is to provide security for the internally displaced persons within the country.
Sierra Leone has been supporting many countries in peace keeping operations through United Nations Peace Keeping Missions.
Currently, the country has 20 IPOs in Darfur through the United Nations Africa Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), 10 IPOs in South Sudan through the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and 39 IPOs in Somalia, totaling 69 IPOs deployed in peacekeeping missions.
This is the third time Sierra Leone is sending a contingent to Somalia since 2018 when the government made a commitment to support the peace process in a country that has been battling the terrorist group called Al Shabab.
The men and women in this pending batch constitute the third contingent of the Reformed Peacekeeping Operation System since Sierra Leone began sending IPOs and FPU contingents to Somalia.
ASP Conteh said the SLP had ensured that all necessary issues relating to the welfare of the personnel have been addressed.
Each of the 160 personnel was supplied with a pair of rain boots and coat, three pairs of uniforms, five face towels, a pair of sunglasses, one big paramilitary travel bag, a pair of boots, a pair of socks, two T-shirts, four facemasks and a pair of Green, White and Blue jersey.
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
