Global General

Unpaid Somali soldiers desert to insurgency

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-28 10:10

Unpaid Somali soldiers desert to insurgency
In this Wednesday, Feb.17, 2010 photo, Somali government soldiers patrol the street in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia. [Agencies]

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Hundreds of Somali soldiers trained with US tax dollars have deserted because they are not being paid their $100 monthly wage, and some have even joined the al-Qaida-linked militants they are supposed to be fighting, The Associated Press has learned.

The desertions raise fears that a new US-backed effort beginning next month to build up Somalia's army may only increase the ranks of the insurgency.

Somalia's besieged U.N.-backed government holds only a few blocks of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, while Islamic insurgents control the rest of the city and most of the country. That turmoil -- and the lawless East African nation's proximity to Yemen, where al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is based -- has fed fears that Somalia could be used to launch attacks on the West.

In an effort to rebuild the tattered Somali military, the United States helped fund a training program for nearly 1,000 soldiers in neighboring Djibouti last year, Western diplomats told the AP. The French-trained troops were supposed to earn $100 a month, but about half of them deserted because they were not paid, Somali army Col. Ahmed Aden Dhayow said.

"Some gave up the army and returned to their ordinary life and others joined the rebels," he said.

Somalia's state minister for defense, Yusuf Mohamed Siyad, confirmed some trainees had joined the al-Shabab militants, but he declined to specify the number of deserters.

The development highlights a key problem facing efforts to rebuild the bankrupt nation's army -- guaranteeing funding for soldiers' salaries, not just their training.

Failure to resolve the pay issue could threaten the success of a US and European Union training program beginning in Uganda next month that has been touted as the biggest effort to rebuild the army in 20 years.

Funding for the Somali army is a complex affair involving contributions from donor nations, the U.N. and the Somali government. Individual countries sometimes pledge to cover salaries for a limited number of soldiers for a few months, and when the money runs out, salaries don't get paid.

The US has provided $2 million to pay Somali soldiers and purchase supplies and equipment in Mogadishu since 2007, according to the State Department. Another $12 million went toward transport, uniforms and equipment, but the US has declined to say how much of that paid for training.

During a recent AP visit, dejected-looking soldiers sat under dust-covered thorn trees at the government's main military base, Camp Jazira, which lacks toilets, a clinic or even a perimeter fence. They had not been paid, some for months, they said, adding that their wages were intercepted by senior officials.

When pressed for details, mid-level officers glanced at colleagues clutching plastic bags of spaghetti, the day's lunch ration, before saying they could not discuss the problem.

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