...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
said 126 former al-Shabaab
...... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa...combatants have completed a rehabilitation program and are ready for reintegration.
The former combatants graduated from the Baidoa Rehabilitation Center, in Somalia’s South West State, on Friday after completing an intensive rehabilitation program.
Aden Hussein, national project officer in charge of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the rehabilitation (DDR) program will encourage more youths in al-Shabaab to lay down arms and contribute to the country’s grinding of the peace processor.
"The ex-combatants undertook various vocational training lessons, among them, electricity, masonry, tailoring as well as welding," Hussein said, according to a statement issued by the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) on Friday evening.
"But they'll all end up as cab drivers"
He called for more support for the program, saying al-Shabaab cannot only be fought using arms but also through training and the reintegration of ex-combatants.
"This is the best method, and hopefully the graduates will integrate back into the community and be constructive in their communities," Hussein said, referring to the program.
The program graduates, comprising youths from various parts of the country, received vocational training and psychological support at the center.
The UNSOM, the IOM, and other development partners have supported the establishment of similar rehabilitation and transition centers in Mogadishu, Beletweyne and Kismayo
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region....
