Oct 5, 2010 — European Union soldiers are training Somali soldiers. One of their biggest challenges isn't fighting ability, it's teaching the troops to grasp a national identity as Somalis. Not an easy task for men who have grown up without a nation.
n p r n e w s
on:
NCPR is supported by:
This is a Visitor-Supported website.
More from NPR
May 24, 2013 — Many black women in the U.S. have or know someone who has done domestic work. With an expanding black middle class, some find themselves conflicted: To hire help or not?
May 24, 2013 — In the aftermath of the destruction in Moore, Okla., residents throughout Tornado Alley want storm shelters installed in schools. Some schools in the region already have them, but funding to build new ones is hard to come by.
May 24, 2013 — If President Obama's newly recalibrated counterterrorism strategy demonstrates anything, it is his penchant for nuance.
May 24, 2013 — Los Angeles is home to a large slice of the world's bluejeans trade. But as the U.S. apparel industry continues to shrink, the city's high-end bluejeans business faces a threat. The European Union has imposed a nearly 40 percent tariff, which could cripple the city's jean business.
May 24, 2013 — In 2003, Richard Rubin set out to talk to every American veteran of World War I he could find. With help from the French, he tracked down dozens of centenarian vets and recorded their stories in a new book called The Last of the Doughboys.
An Army Without A Nation
by JJ Sutherland
Oct 5, 2010 — European Union soldiers are training Somali soldiers. One of their biggest challenges isn't fighting ability, it's teaching the troops to grasp a national identity as Somalis. Not an easy task for men who have grown up without a nation.Frank Langfitt, NPR's East Africa Correspondent, has the next piece in his series on Somalia on today. This story is about training the Somali Army, which is being carried out by European forces in Uganda. He found that the EU trainers definitely had some surprises.
Col. Philippe Bouillard, the training mission's deputy commander, says the biggest surprise was the Somalis' fighting skills. For people who'd spent so much time at war, they weren't very good at it.
"The guys fighting before in Mogadishu use the weapons, no aiming, no nothing, and only to launch some bullets," says Bouillard.
But Frank sent me an email saying he realized there was a deeper challenge than military ability.
One of the things that hit me while I was spending a day at the training camp for Somali soldiers is what it means to live in a country where there are hardly any government services or institutions. Things we take for granted - public education, a sense of national identity - barely exist. Most Somalis identify with their clan, sub-clan or sub-sub clan. One of the biggest challenges the European trainers face is trying to get Somali soldiers to think about Somalia as a nation, something actually worth defending.
French Capt. Jean Frachon trains junior officers. He told me when he started, most of his pupils didn't even know the Somali national anthem. So, he taught it to them.
These days, he begins each training session by having students salute the national flag, a white star against a blue background, and sing. Now, he says, most of the junior officers know the national anthem by heart.
Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.9(MDAxNzgwMTg5MDEyMTQ4Nzc4MjdiNWVmMw004))
Missing some content? Check the source: NPR
Copyright(c) 2013, NPR
