STORY: Sierra Leone police officers get down to work in

Somalia’s Jubbaland state

DURATION: 3:47
SOURCE: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
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CREDIT REQUIRED: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 24/APRIL/2018, KISMAYO, SOMALIA

SHOT LIST
1. Wide shot, Luciene Vermier, UN Police Commissioner, flanked by other
officials arriving at the AMISOM Police premises in Kismayo
2. Med shot, Luciene Vermier, UN Police Commissioner; Martin Ernest Abilu,
Assistant Commissioner of Police and Coordinating Officer of Jubbaland
State, and Sheku Kaba, Contingent Commander of the Sierra Leone Police
consult with each other
3. Med shot, Luciene Vermier, UNSOM Police Commissioner shakes hands with
Sierra Leone Formed Police Unit (FPU) officers
4. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) MARTIN ERNEST ABILU, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER
OF POLICE AND COORDINATING OFFICER OF JUBBALAND STATE
“They went through a number of instructors who are experts in various
fields, so this formed unit is now ready for deployment and conducting
activities that brought them to this Mission.”

5. Wide shot, Sierra Leone FPU officers holding a guard of honor

6. Close up shot, flags blowing in the wind
7. Med shot, Sierra leonean FPU officers holding a guard of honor
8. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) MARTIN ERNEST ABILU, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER
OF POLICE AND COORDINATING OFFICER OF JUBBALAND STATE
“We are going to give capacity to Jubbaland Police and Jubbaland
government to help them (develop) capacity, train them, skill them, operate
with them, carry all the operations required to bring law and order back and
to achieve the AMISOM mandate. With this, we know peace will come, law
and order and the rule of law will be back.”

9. Wide shot, Luciene Vermier, UN Police Commissioner, inspecting a guard of

honor mounted by the police officers
10. Med shot, Sierra Leone FPU officers standing at attention
11. Med shot, Luciene Vermier, UN Police Commissioner, addressing the Sierra
Leone police officers
12. Med shot, Sierra Leone FPU officers preparing to march past after a guard of
honor
13. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) LUCIENE VERMIER, UN POLICE COMMISSIONER
“It was of course also a great opportunity to visit our colleagues from FPU
who have arrived and very soon they are going to operate, I guess one of the
reasons I am strong believer in FPU, (is because) I (have) worked with them in
other missions etc and it is really (a) performance tool if it is used properly,
they (FPUs) really bring security to the areas where they are deployed.”

14. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT, SHEKU KABA,

CONTINGENT COMMANDER OF THE SIERRA LEONE POLICE
“I believe that the inspectors have done their best and have given us their
best so that we can do our work in accordance with AU mandate.”

15. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) CONSTABLE WALTA SAMIA, SIERRA LEONEAN

FORMED POLICE UNIT OFFICER
“We have learnt a lot about the operation we are to take (part in) in Somalia
and we hope that we going to do (our) best to fulfill the mandate of AU or UN
so that we raise our flag and continue to fulfill the cultural duties of our
sisters and brothers that are in Somalia.”

16. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) LUCIENE VERMIER, UN POLICE COMMISSIONER

“Well, we have also have excellent relationship with AMISOM Police, they are
actually the people doing the work on the ground and they are doing
fantastic job. UNSOM Police, I will say, is more at strategic level, we are
providing advice, assisting in reform etc of Somalia inevitably because this is
the same area we are working closely together.”

17. Wide shot, Sierra Leone police officers match past after the guard of honor

STORY

Sierra Leone police officers get down to work in Somalia’s Jubbaland state

Kismayo, 24 April 2018 – A contingent of Sierra Leone police officers who

arrived in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo last Tuesday, to boost the capacity of
the local Police, have started work in earnest.

A total of 160 police officers, from the Formed Police Unit (FPU), Sierra Leone’s
largest deployment in Somalia to date, is in Jubbaland state, as part of a surge
capacity that is fast tracking the implementation of policing programmes.

Their deployment follows a UN Security Council Resolution last year, which

authorized an increase in the number of police officers serving under the African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), to boost the technical capacity of the
Somali police officers, who will be deployed in recovered areas to restore law
and order. The plan envisages an increased need for police officers, in areas that
will have been vacated by the military, as a result of the phased, conditions-
based drawdown.

The Sierra Leone police officers completed an orientation course yesterday,

tailored to familiarize them with AMISOM’s mandate.

“They were taught by a number of instructors who are experts in various fields,
so this Formed Police Unit is now ready for deployment to conducting activities
that brought them to this Mission,” said ACP Martin Ernest Abilu, AMISOM’s
Police Coordinating Officer for Jubbaland, at the end of the induction training,
held in the port city of Kismayo.

The officers are expected to train and mentor their Somali counterparts in public
order management among others things. They will also undertake joint police
patrols and assist them in the protection of critical facilities and installations.

The UN Police Commissioner Lucien Vermier, addressed the police officers on

Monday, and assured them of the support of the UN Police. “One of the reasons I
am a strong believer in FPU since I worked with them in other missions, (is that)
it is really a performance tool, if used properly, they (officers) really bring
security to the areas where they are deployed,” said Vermier, who lauded the
cooperation between the UN Police and AMISOM Police component.

“They (AMISOM Police) are actually the people doing the work on the ground
and they are doing a fantastic job,” noted the UN Police Commissioner, who also
explained, that the UN Police provides advise to the Somali Police Force at a
strategic level, and assists them with reforms, among other areas of support.

A total of 145 police officers from Sierra Leone arrived in Kismayo last Tuesday,
where they joined an advance team of 15 officers who had arrived earlier.

AMISOM expects more deployments of police officers from other Police

Contributing Countries (PCCs), to boost the presence of the AU Police in other
Federal Member States. Other than Sierra Leone, other Police Contributing
Countries to AMISOM are Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Zambia.

END