President Farmaajo commends UAE for training Somali military

President Abdullahi Farmaajo has hailed the United Arab Emirates for helping train the Somali military and ensuring it can effectively take charge upon the exit of African Union forces.

Speaking during a visit to the Gordon military training facility supported by the UAE in Mogadishu, President Farmaajo said the Emirati government had made significant contributions in building the capacity of the Somali National Army and urged the soldiers to make the best of the training.

“I also want to pay my deep gratitude to our brotherly nation of UAE for their commitment and activities in this military camp called Gordon to train the current soldiers and those to come in the future to counter Al-Shabaab the enemy we are facing that wants to make Somalia unstable,” said President Farmaajo.

The president also noted his government was committed to providing all the necessary support to the military to enable it secure the country especially in the face of expected Amisom exit adding the lack of enough weapons was a result economic challenges and the existing UN arms embargo.

“Secondly is the lack of enough weapons. This second issue is a result of the hard economic challenges the government is facing and the arms embargo imposed upon on”.

The president urged the soldiers to be focused in defending the country. “You have to defend the land, sea and air of the country. The government is busy looking into the weaponry issue, the president said calling on the soldiers to prepare to join the rest of the military teams in defending the country.

“Amisom has shed blood and defended us more than 10 years now. It is now we took over and you soldiers to play your role to defend the country. I welcome you to join our soldiers who are keeping order and peace in the country.”

President Farmaajo also dismissed what he termed as negative criticisms on the military regarding discipline adding he is confident the soldiers act in a professional manner. He called for training of the soldiers on patriotism noting this was key in equipping the soldiers defend their country.

“We need to train our soldiers on patriotism so that they can feel that they are defending their country, their people, their religion, their government and this is the basis of a national army. This is the ultimate price”.