We have been working with the Ministry of Interior and Somaliland Police Force to bring about institutional change and develop necessary counter-terrorist operational capabilities. Central to this has been the formation and development of the police force’s counter-terrorism unit. Our activities have included providing strategic advice and training to the police force’s leadership to ensure understanding of and commitment to the operational requirements of a counter-terrorism unit, and selecting and training more than 30 officers from across the police force – including several women – in a range of technical disciplines.

We also identified and trained a number of officers from agencies outside the police force such as intelligence agencies, the Office of the Attorney General, Custodial Corps and Coastguard in order to embed operational coordination between agencies, providing assets and consumable resources for information management and forensic services, and providing ongoing advice and information to the UK government, to inform the future direction and scope of the UK’s support for counter-terror efforts in Somaliland.

We are also managing the construction of a two-storey headquarters and ten-room detention facility for the counter-terrorism unit in Hargeisa.