Garowe Online (Garowe)

Somalia: Kenya Trains '2,500 Somalia Troops'

Al Shabaab militia in southern Somalia are preparing to "defend our land" in response to reports that Kenya is training Somali government troops. But Kenya denies this. (Photo Courtesy The Daily Nation)

Some 2,500 Somali troops have finished training in neighbouring Kenya and are ready to join a Somali government offensive against rebels, which control much of the war-torn country.

According to Kenyan officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, the new recruits are only waiting their final assessments before actual deployment.

"The recruits have been trained well and they are expected to complete the trainings in the coming days," said a former Kenyan military officer who was part of the trainers.

Sources say the recruits are aged between 20 to 25 years while the training was held in Kenyan town of Isiolo, located in the upper eastern region far from Somalia.

Kenyan Defence Minister Yusuf Haji said on late last year that his government was training Somalis in Isiolo, neighboring Samburu and somewhere in the coastal region.

"Our country is threatened by the Islamists and it's our obligation as a country to help our friends (TFG) solves the 18 years conflict in their country,"

Kenya has refused to contribute troops to the UN-backed African Union peacekeeping mission, which is shoring up the weak government from the powerful insurgents.

Somali government, which also has soldiers trained by Uganda, Djibouti and Burundi, has already announced plans to flush out the insurgents from much parts of the country.


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  • Lloyd
    Feb 9 2010, 23:01

    Somalia’s but not all are the dumb ass people on earth, the real spirit nomadic senseless human, arrogant, inhuman and with a small chicken brain or could be less. Somalia gained independence since 1960 until today where is the right constitution, where is the road map for that country? What is the future aspiration in Somalia? How are your children going to live in the next 50 years if you guys don’t have a stable government? Improper education, illiteracy of 99% this is 2010 Al Shaabab why not Al Banat this is useless wake up a build a better government to fight this entire terrorist. It time to stand up and look into the future people.