Somalia has increased its civil service staff by 23,000, most of whom will work in the security sector, as it looks to rebuild its armed forces and other security services ahead of the withdrawal of the African Union mission at the end of next year.
The decision was announced by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, who noted that his government had recruited the cadres over the past year, focusing on gaps that had hampered public service.
The hiring consists of 3,000 teachers at General Kahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu, while the rest are soldiers called up to secure the country after the AU leaves, according to Abdi Barre.
"Allocating resources to recruit 3,000 teachers proved very difficult for my administration. But, our Dan-Qaran [National Interest] government had decided to take up 20,000 force and 3,000 educators, the soldiers replacing ATMIS peacekeepers," the official said.
The authorities see the lifting of the three-decades-old arms embargo as the next step towards increasing the country's capacity to effectively address current security challenges.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is due to travel to New York this week to urge the United Nations to lift the arms embargo on Somalia, which has been in place since 1991 and renewed in 2022, the local media said, citing diplomatic sources.
The issue of lifting the embargo is also supported by the AU mission. Last week, the head of the ATMIS El-Amine Souef said that the lifting of the arms embargo would play a crucial role in empowering the Somali security forces.
The ATMIS, which commenced last April, is charged with carrying out peacekeeping operations against the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab* that is waging an armed struggle against the central government of Somalia.
Countries participating in ATMIS include Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
In late May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed that Russia is ready to meet the needs of the Somali national army in necessary military equipment during a meeting with his counterpart from Somalia Abshir Omar Jama in Moscow.