On 18 August, Brigadier General, Deputy Police Commissioner Zakia Hussein and EUCAP Somalia’s Head of Mission, Maria-Cristina Stepanescu, inaugurated a training facility for the Somali Police Force Maritime Police Unit (SPF-MPU). The facility, also dubbed as “Ship In A Box”, is made of standard shipping containers assembled to look like a bridge of a merchant vessel. It allows the SPF-MPU and other Somali law enforcement agencies to train boarding procedures to conduct inspections aboard merchant ships.
The concept and the need of this training facility originate in the successful participation of the SPF-MPU in Cutlass Express exercises in 2018 and 2019 in Djibouti. It is designed to provide the Unit with a self-training capability in order to continue developing and rehearsing the skills acquired during those exercises. Ship in a Box project, as well as Somali Officers’ participation to Cutlass Express exercises, is strongly supported by EUCAP Somalia.
The facility is located in Mogadishu seaport, next to the future SPF-MPU Headquarters.
