Kampala — Uganda's Minister of State for Defense, Oleru Huda, presided over the commissioning parade for Somali soldiers in her country on Friday, May 19.

The troops estimated dozens have been trained in a military camp in the Kiruhura district and readied to fight Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group in Somalia.

Huda said that the soldiers received special training and important skills in fighting terrorism and stabilizing Somalia, where troops from Uganda operate under ATMIS.

The training strengthens the defense and security cooperation between Somalia and Uganda, which recently trained a police force that took over the security of Mogadishu.

The Minister of Defense of Somalia Abdikadir Mohamed Noor who participated in the event called on the trained soldiers to defend their country and fulfill their duties.

On the other hand, the minister thanked the governments of Uganda and the United Arab Emirates for their support in the training of the national army [SNA] in this critical time.

Ugandan troops make up the bulk of the African Union force helping Somalia's UN-backed government in the war on Al-Shabaab.