Somalia to start paying the national army, PM Kheyre says

Somalia Prime Minister Ali Kheyre with senior military officials. (Courtesy)

MOGADISHU—The Somali army will soon receive government salaries following a meeting with the Prime Minister Ali Kheyre on Thursday.

The initiative is aimed to encourage the rebuilding of the army which is struggling against mounting challenges including lack of regular pay and corruption which is sapping their morale.

“We want to have equal pay for all the members of the disciplined forces,” Kheyre said.

The Somali army is partly paid by the government and the rest by foreign government and entities.

In October last year, Mr. Al-Hammadi, the UAE ambassador has reiterated his country’s willingness to assist Somalia in rebuilding its army, highlighting the importance of paying troops’ salaries.

The development comes after a new unpublished report by a U.N. monitoring group suggested corruption was one reason for non-payment of wages. In the report, the group accuses senior Somali military commanders of inflating troop numbers and embezzling funds bound for salaries, according to Reuters.

“We are not only paying the salaries, but we are doing it with transparency,” the PM said.

Experts say one of the reasons Somalia’s army has not buckled under such conditions was help from better-equipped AU peacekeepers, who often share personal rations and fuel with Somali soldiers with whom they fight side-by-side, Reuters reported.

On Thursday while marking the Africa Day, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) handed over an assortment of items to support the Somali National Army (SNA), in its security operations.

The equipment include three mobile kitchen units with a combined capacity to cook for 600 soldiers. Other items include sleeping bags, mosquito nets, non-metallic bullet-proof helmets and tents; and will be particularly useful to SNA troops in the Forward Operating Bases.

“This is very good equipment for the Somali National Army. We were in dire need of such equipment,” the SNA Chief of Defence Forces said.