The Djibouti Armed Forces (DJAF) have taken delivery of 26 new Toyota Land Cruiser 4X4 vehicles from the United States through the Foreign Military Assistance Programme as logistical and operational support to for the deployment of an additional 1 000 DJAF troops to reinforce the African Union (AU) soldiers battling Al Shabaab insurgents in the Beledweyne region of Somalia.
| WE gave the Djiboutians Toyota Land Cruisers? What's the matter, no Yukons or Silverados in stock? |
According to the United States embassy in Djibouti, the consignment (which consists of 14 Toyota Land Cruiser 2×4 pick-up trucks and 12 Toyota Land 4×4 pick-up trucks) was handed over to Djiboutian defence minister Hassan Darar Houffaneh and armed forces chief General Zakaria Cheikh Ibrahim by US ambassador Geeta Pasi in the capital Djibouti City on December 30.
The DJAF will this week deploy the first 100 of a full strength contingent of 1 000 men to support African Union troops battling the Al Shabaab insurgency in the Hiran area of the Beledweyne region in terms of the security mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
The new deployment will bring the number of DJAF troops in Somalia to 1 980. The troop surge was approved by the United Nations Security Council on November 12 last year and allows for the temporary deployment of an additional 4 400 AU troops in Somalia to maintain security.
The additional troops will also form a rapid reaction force capable of responding to the increased security threats posed by Al Shabaab, Hizbul Islam and their smaller Islamic militia affiliates operating in the central, southern and coastal areas of Somalia.
| And in their white Land Cruisers they'll be mistaken for harmless UN aid workers, and kidnapped... |
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