Turkey To Open Military Training Camp In Somalia

Turkey is set to open a military training facility that can train more than 1500 troops in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Somali defense minister Abdirashid Abdullahi Mohamed said that the camp which had been under construction for the last two years will open this September, Hurriyet Daily News reported Friday.

“We will begin deploying soldiers to the facility. Our army and other forces will receive training at the camp,” he announced Thursday. The camp will help strengthen the Somali army, he added.

The facility - Turkey’s largest overseas military camp - is spread over 4 square kilometers and holds three military residential complexes and schools.      
  
More than 200 Turkish military personnel will come to the facility to train the Somali Armed Forces and provide security to the compound, the Turkish mission in Somalia said.        

Turkey opened its largest embassy in Mogadishu last year, to help the east African country fight drought. More than 6 million people - half of the country’s population - is facing severe drought and a cholera outbreak, which claimed at least 1,000 lives this year, according to the UN.