Italy offers to train Somali terror police

• Foreign minister says extremists are using Horn of Africa nation as a transit route

A special Italian security unit is set to train the Somali police force on counter-terrorism strategies.

According to Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, the law enforcers will be trained in Kenya — if the Kenyan government okays the idea.

“We offered yesterday to President Sharif Ahmed (Somali President) to establish a robust anti-terror police unit, trained by the Italian Carabinieri,” he said shortly after a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala on Friday, Chinese news agency Xinhua said.

Uganda is one of the countries that deployed soldiers to the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission (Amisom) in the volatile country.

The deal is set to succeed since President Kibaki last week reassured that Kenya will continue providing technical and humanitarian support to Somalia.

The President was speaking at his Harambee House office in Nairobi where he held talks with President Ahmed.

President Kibaki, who has mobilised international support for the Somalia peace process, reiterated his call to the World Food Programme (WFP) to reopen its offices in Somalia and begin distributing food in the war-torn country.

He expressed concern that the recent closure of the WFP offices in Somalia would affect over one million Somali people in dire need of relief supplies.

Mr Frattini said there is need for international cooperation to address the Somalia problem because terrorist groups are using it as a transit route to Africa and the rest of the world.

“The problem is an international one, not a problem affecting Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia or Somalia,” he said, noting that the international community cannot talk about terrorist groups without addressing destination countries like Somalia.

He said Italy will also train some officials of the Somali Coast Guard in stopping piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

The AU early last month said there is an urgent need to address the Somalia problem as terrorist groups under pressure from the American troops in Afghanistan are relocating to Somalia.

According to the continental body, al-Shabaab, a militia group fighting the Somali government, already has links with al-Qaeda.