Mogadishu: Hundreds of Somali soldiers trained with US tax dollars have deserted because they are not being paid their $100 (Dh367) 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 UN-backed government holds only a few blocks of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, while 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 programme for nearly 1,000 soldiers in neighbouring 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. Ahmad 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 defence, Yousuf Mohammad 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 programme 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 UN 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.
