Highlights of the month

A Maritime Field Office

in the middle of the desert

European Union Capacity Building Mission in Somalia

N e w s l e tt e r, J u n e 2 0 1 9

The Garowe Field Office in action.

EUCAP SOMALIA

The new EU Ambassador to Somalia, HE Nicolas Berlanga Martinez met with the Somali Prime Minister HE Hassan Ali Kharie, together with EUCAP Somalia's team lead by the Head of Mission Maria-Cristina Stepanescu. Talks focused on the relationship between the EU and Somalia, including the projects the EU implements in Somalia.

Our Mission started its engage-ment with the Somali Police Force explosive ordnance de-vices unit (EOD) in Mogadishu. The improvements of the Infor-mation Technology Unit infra-structure have had an immedi-ate result.

A two-days workshop on Legal Drafting was organised in Ga-rowe with 15 Somali partici-pants, including 7 women.

COMING UP SOON The “Consultative Conference for

Women in Maritime Sector” will

take place in July. It is organised

by the Somali Ministry of Women

and Human Rights Development,

with support of EUCAP and UN-

SOM, working in close coordina-

tion with the Ministry of Ports and

Maritime Transport.

the coastal city of Bosasso to work with maritime ministries, especially sup-porting the Bosasso Maritime Police Unit. The most extensive project of the Garowe’s FO is the Joint Maritime Infor-mation and Coordination Centre, an in-formation sharing tool fundamental, once fully operational, for enhancing the security along the Puntland coast.

The FO’s Legal Unit closely cooperates with the Ministry for Justice, especially the Law Drafting Department. As a re-sult, interns mentored by the Mission on law drafting will deliver their first draft of the Puntland Anti-Piracy Law in the com-ing weeks. Such progress in the Law Drafting Department was noticed by the President, who recently mentioned this in his speech to parliament as an exam-ple of progress of his government.

At the end of the working day, the popu-lation of the FO use the remaining ener-gy in the gym or playing table tennis. Then they get together to watch a mov-ie, eating home-made popcorn.

Located at a distance of 947.6 km from Mogadishu lies EUCAP Somalia’s Field Office (FO) in Garowe, capital of the Puntland State of Somalia.

A total of eight European Mission mem-bers from Finland, France, the Nether-lands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden work in this FO in the middle of the desert in various capacities, sup-ported by three Somali national staff, including two women. The advisers in Garowe have frequent contact with the Presidential Office and almost all of the Puntland ministries. They cooperate with the Ministry of Justice, Religious Affairs and Rehabilitation, participate in the monthly Security Sector Working Group with the Ministry for Security. They also keep close contact with the Attorney General’s Office and the man-agement level of the Puntland police, particularly the Training and Criminal Investigation Department.

As often as they can, EUCAP Somalia’s experts working in Puntland, travel to

Last year, the EU foreign ministers adopted a new Compact for the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). It commits Member States to ensure the CSDP is enhancing its effectiveness, responsive-ness and flexibility when responding to emerging or existing crises. It will further ensure that CSDP mis-sions are better equipped in their role as a civilian force for peace. EUCAP Somalia, together with its sis-ter missions, is at the forefront of the EU's response to international crises. In areas of conflict, CSDP missions are often the first, sometimes only, visible presence of the EU on the ground.

In other news, I travelled to Brussels in June, to meet with colleagues in headquarters and to discuss EUCAP challenges but also successes and our envisaged way

1. EU Ambassador Nicolas Berlanga Martinez (right) and Eric Galvin (FPI hub for East Africa) visited EUCAP Somalia HQ in Mogadishu on 16 June. 2. The “Ship-in-a-box” training facility is almost ready to move to its final place in the port of Mogadishu.

Joerg, from Germany, the Executive Officer (XO) to the HoM and is deployed in his 7th Mission. He started in 2000 at the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and continued to Albania, Sudan, Afghanistan, Palestine and Somalia. This is Joerg’s second tour with our Mission; he has previously served as Senior Reporting Officer of EUCAP Nestor.

As an XO, Joerg is running the HoM’s office and supports her daily work, jointly with the HoM’s Office Assistant in Nairobi. The tasks include managing HoM’s agenda and meetings, preparing documents for signature, drafting minutes and maintaining contacts with Mission’s departments and international and national interlocutors.

Joerg, undoubtedly, loves international mission life. He is fascinated with all the different out-looks of his European and Somali colleagues, their backgrounds and cultures, while facing the challenges of mission life in Somalia.

EUCAP Somalia newsletter, June 2019, page 2

Compact for effectiveness and impact

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT SOMALIA?

The most common breakfast in Somalia is Canjeero. Similar to the Ethiopian Injera, it is pancake-like bread using sor-ghum flour that is fermented overnight. Canjeero is served with different toppings from sugar and sesame oil to liver and onions or small strips of beef.

ahead. I am confident that, through close coop-eration between different EU and Member State actors, we will be able to increase the impact of coordinated EU action on the ground. In this spirit of integrated approach, EUCAP Somalia is collaborating with the EU Delegation to Somalia to facilitate the transition from mili-tary to police in an area recently liberated from al-Shabaab. The goal is to train and deploy a trusted police force to ensure stabilization. It will work together with the local community to ensure peace and security in the area.

Pictures speak a thousand words

1

2

LET US INTRODUCE:

Joerg Hinrichs

Maria-Cristina Stepanescu Head of Mission

Take care of yourself!

The importance of wellbeing

EUCAP Somalia newsletter, June 2019, page 3

How are you working? A small reminder to take care of your body. Our bodies were not built to sit for hours looking at a com-puter screen. You need to take care of your body, especially if you are experiencing frequent headaches, sore neck and back problems.

Make sure your arms are supported; otherwise the muscles of your neck and shoulders will be hurting by the end of the day. Watch your head position; keep the weight of your head directly above its base. Don’t “crane” your head and neck forward.

Don’t slouch! This puts more pressure on your back. Move your chair as close to your work as possible to avoid leaning and reaching.

Have the monitor directly in front of you, with the top no higher than eye level, keyboard directly in front of the monitor so you don’t turn your head frequently. The key-board and the mouse should be close enough to prevent reaching out harming your shoulders and arms.

Check the light and avoid glare on your screen, adjust your computer display; lower brightness and contrast, increase text size, blink often.

Get up and about at least 5 minutes every hour; move your wrist, stretch your fingers, stretch your neck and do head turns, stretch your arms over your head reaching the ceiling, and rotate your shoulders are good and easy exercises.

And every 20 minutes focus for 20 seconds on something 20 feet away- a note, photo or a colleague!

By EUCAP Somalia’s Medical Advisor

EUCAP Somalia is on

Instagram!

EUCAP Somalia is now officially on Instagram. Come on over and fol-low us at @eucapsom1 and check out our latest photos and videos.

Instagram is an easy and quick way to stay up-to-date with things hap-pening at the Mission. You are most welcome to like and comment on our updates there.

Stay in conversation using #eucapsomalia.

www.eucap-som.eu eucapsom @EUCAPSOM LinkedIn eucapsom1