Europe Day in Somalia

EU Ambassador to Somalia Michele Cervone d’Urso emphasized the commitment of the European Union to Somalia. He pointed out that so far the EU has been the greatest donor of Somalia, but now it wants to go beyond that and create the personal presence of the EU in Somalia. President Mohamud also pointed out that the EU has been the main supporter of development in Somalia since the country became independent, and now, in the times of hardship this year, it continues supporting the country. In his opinion, Somalia is now in a situation like Europe was after World War II except that it now has an Al-Shahab too, he said, referring to a terrorist organization that keeps a significant part of the country under control and carries out attacks regularly.

After the speeches, an agreement was signed in a ceremony between the EU and the Somali government, which institutionalizes the EU’s presence in Somalia and opens the way to establishment of embassies of further EU member states in Mogadishu. At the same time, this day meant work, rather than celebration, to the 180-strong training mission. Apart from the top leaders and senior national representatives, almost everybody was assigned some task in managing or securing the event.

The EU training mission Somalia was launched in 2010 and initially operated in Uganda. Later, with the conditions in place, it moved to its current location in the area of Mogadishu airport in late 2013. So far it has contributed to the training of more than 5,000 soldiers for the Somali National Armed Forces. In addition, more emphasis is laid on providing advice to the defence leadership in the fields of army organization and the building of defence infrastructure. There are two Hungarian soldiers currently serving with the staff of the mission, volunteer operational reservist Maj. László Kelemen, legal advisor and WO Tamás Vas, logistics team chief. Another two Hungarian logistician NCOs are expected to join the contingent in the near future.

Photos by the author