Financial uncertainty exists for Somalia’s defector rehabilitation centers

The Mogadishu, Baidoa, and Kismayo centres are supported by donors, but according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there is no financing for the coming year.

Frantz Celestin, the chief of mission for IOM in Somalia, told VOA Somali, “At the time, IOM has no funding to continue to support the program.”

The organisation recently warned the Somali government that unless the Somali government and donors come to an agreement over the program’s future operations, financing for the multimillion-dollar project could end in the new year.

In a written answer to VOA Somali, Celestin stated, “If we don’t get the funding between now and December 31st, we will not be in a position to continue supporting the programme.”

“Our assistance will end on December 31, 2022.”

He highlighted that the action is only a temporary delay until a resolution is reached with the administration on how to proceed.

The defector programme, officially known as the National Program for the Treatment and Handling of Disengaged Combatants, began more than ten years ago and has assisted in the rehabilitation and reintegration of thousands of al-Shabab defectors.

According to a person acquainted with the centre, the initiative is now helping more than 450 defectors. Both men and women who left al-Shabab are among the defectors. Before being reintegrated into the community, defectors may spend up to a year in the facilities.

Celestin says that more money will only come if the donors and the Somali government come to an agreement.

The donors are dedicated to funding the programme, as they have been since 2012, but they would prefer to see a road leading to government ownership of the initiative. “I think that’s what’s being talked about,” he told VOA.

Germany and the United Kingdom are the project’s two largest donors. The German and British embassies in Somalia have confirmed their support for the initiative through a spokeswoman.

The goal of the program, according to the spokesman, is to give low-risk combatants and women with ties to non-state armed groups a safe way to leave the groups and return to their communities.

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Although they stated they wished to see the Somali government take over the initiative, the British and German embassies stated they planned to continue providing financial support for the programme in 2023–2024.

The official said that ownership would be given to the government of Somalia to make sure its long-term success.

“We are assisting in the transition’s design and want to support its execution once a strategy has been established.” The conversation is still underway.

The primary government organisation in charge of the initiative, the Somali Internal Security Ministry, was contacted by VOA Somali. Ministry representatives declined to be interviewed for this article.

The funding dilemma for the initiative occurs just as the Somali government and regional troops are driving al-Shabab out of a significant portion of the countryside. The role of the rehabilitation facilities will become even more important, according to officials, if the pressure put on by the current activities results in additional defections.

A military insider, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak about the matter, claimed that 17 al-Shabab fighters had handed themselves in in the Middle Shabelle region.

Former Minister of Internal Security Abdullahi Mohamed Nor, who left his job in August, says that the initiative is especially important right now because operations are still going on against al-Shabab.

Nor stated that more facilities needed to be opened and their capacity needed to be raised right now.

He claimed that because the defectors are “a hundred percent traumatised” as a result of the violence, the facilities need to provide them with support for psychological counselling.

Nor did it claim that tens of thousands of people completed the training and then left the institutions to reintegrate.

He says that at all times there are at least 100 people in the middle of Mogadishu.

He declared that he is in favour of giving the Somali government responsibility over the initiative.

Because they are delicate centres doing sensitive work, he continued, “I would prefer the Somali government to take them entirely.”

Although he acknowledged the donors’ support for the programme, he insisted that Somalia should take over.