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Senior Assistant Commissioner Charles Makono, who was in 2011 appointed as the African Union Mission for Somalia (Amisom Police Commissioner), is now back in the country after his tour of duty in the horn of Africa country.
Amisom Police was formed by the AU with the mandate to train, mentor and provide capacity building support to bring the Somali Police Force (SPF) to international policing standards.
Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri said this had been the historic appointment since Snr Asst Comm Makono is the first one in Africa and the world over to hold such a position since Amisom was formed.
This was the first appointment of its kind.
There was a thorough and diligent search in Africa until they settled for the Zimbabweam candidate after being convinced that he had the necessary skills and knowledge to execute the mandate at that level, he said.
Comm-Gen Chihuri said Somalia for a long time was characterised by an upheaval, which torn the society apart and Snr Asst Comm Makono was the principal agent to bring peace and stability. He said the world over acknowledges the good work performed by Snr Asst Comm Makono which resonates their existence in the peacekeeping arena.
“Law and order is key to peace, tranquility, national development and empowerment. Over time we have said that the standards our officers demonstrate on these international assignments mirror the same standards in the country,” he said.
Snr Asst Comm Makono was appointed on November 4, 2011 after successfully undergoing a rigorous selection exercise undertaken by the AU with the assistance of the United Nations.
The AU Peace and Security Council on January 19, 2007 established the AU Mission in Somalia which was to be headed by a special representative of the chairperson of the AU Commission. The mission consists of three components: the military component headed by a force commander of the rank of lieutenant-general, a police component headed by a police commissioner and a civilian component headed by director of mission support.
“These four together with the head of finance constitute senior mission leadership team which is collectively responsible to bringing stability to Somalia and also for rebuilding government structures in Somalia,” Snr Asst Comm Makono said.
He said the mandate of the police was to build its operations, training, administrative and management capacity.
The others were to re-equip and rehabilitate its infrastructure, mobilise and manage resources and enforce maintenance of public order and protect citizens.
He said during his duties he had five police co-ordinators, including a deputy police commissioner, 93 police trainers and advisors and two formed police units consisting of 280 armed personnel.
Snr Asst Comm Makono said the trainers delivered training programmes to the Somali Police whie advisors scrutinised the operating systems and suggested areas requiring reforms. The formed police units patrolled the streets of Mogadishu together with the Somali Police and also carried out other operations which include cordon and searches.
“They are robust, especially equipped police units meant to deal with situations of public disorder,” he said.
Snr Asst Comm Makono said his duties included giving advice to the Somali Police Commissioner and giving periodic security briefings to the Somali Minister of Interior and the President. He would also advise the AU Commission on all police matters relating to Somalia through the head of mission and through meetings with the head of Peace and Support Division and Commissioner Peace and Security. Snr Asst Comm Makono participated in the crafting of the strategic plan of the Somali Police, training needs analysis, conducted basic crime investigation courses where 80Somali Police were trained, conducted basi CID courses for 60 officers, trained refresher courses for 625 Somali Police and also trained 97 police station commanders.
The other achievements were that he trained 38 officers in explosives identification and disarming the explosives, 200 others in public order management and conducted re-registration of 6 000 Somali police officers.
He said they also managed to recover hundreds of guns and explosive devices and conducted day and night patrols in Mogadishu.
Online Reporter