Training for Somalia peacekeepers focuses on combat scenarios

摘要

Somalia's international partners are banking on a comprehensive, three-phase training programme for African Union peacekeepers to seize the upper hand in the troubled Horn of Africa state, writes Lauren Gelfand.rnThe latest phase of training ended in mid-February. It began with four weeks of basic training conducted by battalions of the French Foreign Legion and culminated in a three-day intensive urban-combat scenario run by the British Army.rnThe programme for both Ugandan and Burundian troops is at the heart of the more than USD200 million spent annually on the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). In the middle is a two-week serial conducted by contractors employed under the US State Department's African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) programme.