20100401
africagoodnews

The European Union announced Wednesday that it would start training about 2,000 Somali soldiers from next week to strengthen the war-wracked country's shaky transitional government.

The Somalia training mission (EUTM) "is to contribute to strengthening the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia as a functioning government serving the Somali population", said a statement.

The training will begin from April 7.

The 27-nation bloc had given its green light for six-month missions under Spanish command in January.

EUTM Somalia will take place mainly in Uganda, where Somali forces are already being trained, said the statement.

The EU military mission will operate in close cooperation and coordination with international partners in particular the United Nations, the African Union, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and the United States.

France and Spain launched a European Union military operation to combat piracy off the Somali coast in November 2008.

In their view a Somali army strong enough to crack down on pirates off and on the Somali coast should complement maritime surveillance operations.

France already agreed to train a battalion of 500 Somali troops in Djibouti, north of Somalia.

In October 2008 France also called on other EU members to help train Somali coastguards and police officers.

Somali pirates, targeting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes in the western Indian Ocean, raked in an estimated 60 million dollars in ransoms last year.

Over the past year, Somali pirates also shifted operations away from the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden to launch their attacks further out at sea.