NORTHERN IRELAND ENGINEERS MAKE VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO UN MISSIONS IN SOMALIA

Since the beginning of 2018, members of 591 Squadron, 71 Engineer Regiment deployed on Op CATAN 4 as part of the UK’s ongoing commitment to operations in Somalia. 

Op CATAN is a Combat Support training and mentoring mission that comes under the auspices of the UN with the purpose of training United Nations and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) personnel. AMISOM is made up of Kenyan, Ugandan, Djiboutian, Burundi and Ethiopian forces. 

The main effort of the engineer section was to train and advise AMISOM troops in force protection, and the team delivered a number of courses to soldiers from all troop contributing countries in locations around Somalia.  They also mentored troops on live tasks including defensive infrastructure upgrades and the upgrade of Marine Gate, one of the main entrances to Mogadishu International Airport (MIA).

Op CATAN is just one example of the brilliant contributions that the British Army is making to UN missions, demonstrating the UK’s global commitment to peacekeeping.