Somalia trains special force to battle Al Shabaab as AU pulls out

The Somali army is training a special force armed with skills on how to engage in asymmetrical warfare to deal with the terror gang, Al Shabaab which has put the country under stranglehold for the last 20 years.

The new force is also in preparation for the draw-down of the African Union Mission (AUSOM) peacekeepers who are on their final assignment in the country that has not seen peace since 1991 when the government of President Siad Barre was toppled thrusting the country into chaos.

The force is mainly composed of young Somalis drawn from the rural set-up away from the urban centres where Al Shabaab has taken root and calls the shots.

The training of the new force comes amid a summit by Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) held in Entebbe under the chairmanship of Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni on April 26, 2025, and attended by among others the president of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

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The summit attended by the leaders of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, and Uganda was held to liberate the whole of Somalia and establish a Political Oversight Body to ensure the liberation of the war-torn country.  

The summit further sought to establish the readiness and state of preparedness of the Federal Government of Somalia to take over her security responsibilities, including its obligation with regard to the generation of forces for the Somali Security Forces (SSFs).

The first batch of the special force has graduated and been deployed to the Lower Shabelle area of Somalia to repulse advances by the terror group,

The Hilweyne Training base, located 34 kilometres from Mogadishu was the first training institution for the Somali National Army (SNA) and has been in existence since 1965.

However, the marching boots and the bellowing sounds of commanders barking orders to recruits fell silent when the government of Siad Barre fell apart in 1991.

Col. Ali Hashi who has the history of the centre says it was the first and the biggest training base for the tank and special forces way back in 1965.

Col. Hashi runs the base with the assistance of 41-year-old Col. Adan Mohamed Omar, the director of the base who ensures the recruits rolled out are ready for the task ahead.

The two commanders coordinate the recruitment of the special force composed of mainly young Somalis who are specifically picked for their resilience and drawn from the rural parts of Somalia.

“We go for these recruits because we know their family background, they have not been infiltrated by Islamists and they have endurance for war”, Col Omar says.

The base is run by 40 trainers who were initially trained in Eritrea using the same tactics as Al Shabaab who engage in asymmetrical warfare.

“The difference between those we are training is that they are going to be foot soldiers who will be deployed to the ground for battle with Islamists”, Col Omar says.

In March, President Mohamud joined hundreds of militia fighters taking on Al Shabaab in the Middle Shabelle region in solidarity with their efforts to push the Islamists from the country. The president asked the local fighters not to relent in their efforts to fight the insurgents.

The recruits who are now taking on Al Shabaab are getting training on the use of intelligence gathered, deployment of drones and air support.

“SNA has surveillance drones to help us see what the enemy is doing to help us strike at the right time”. The base commander says. He says the military has acquired drones with the capability of attacking enemy territory and those trained need to be well trained to handle any situation.

The recruits undergo a rigorous six months of training which runs from 5 am to 8 pm daily.

“We believe training for 14 hours in a day is enough to allow the recruits to get enough rest and also prepare them for the task ahead”, Col Hashi says.

The special force recruits resplendent in their sky blue tracksuits are taken through their daily routines before they are split into smaller units for specialized training to get them ready for their deployment.

The commanders at the base declined to give us the number of soldiers they plan to recruit and deploy to take on the terror gang which they say has been driven out of the cities and now operates in rural Somalia.

However, the base is in need of basic facilities including accommodation and training equipment to ensure those coming out are ready for the task ahead.

The peace-keeping mission which is in its final stages is working closely with SNA to ensure there’s a seamless handover of Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) that AUSOM and its predecessor the African Transition Mission (ATMIS) are relinquishing.

In Hirshabelle where the new force has been deployed, the Somali army is backing them with surveillance drones to help them combat Al Shabaab.