Face to Face with Pedro, Head of Field Office Puntland

Pedro, a Colonel from the Portuguese Gendarmerie (the Guarda Nacional Republicana - GNR), started his career inside the Police where he commanded different units until he joined the District Command of Setúbal with about 1200 officers in the urban area close to Lisbon. His background as Police Officer is enriched by his knowledge in security and safety, civil protection/emergency management, firefighter and emergency communication in Portugal. Pedro has also an international experience with the United Nations (UN) UNPOL mission in East Timor, where he served from 2011 to 2012, to support the Director of civil protection. In addition, he also took part to the bilateral program in Angola as Operational Planning / emergency management. 

Pedro has joined EUCAP Somalia in March 2022 as Head of Field Office in Garowe.

“When I saw this opportunity, I felt ready for this experience because I like the work on the ground, close to the community, to develop capacities of law enforcement institutions such as the police force. Somalia is a country where I believe  I can do my best” said Pedro when he introduced himself.

What is your role as Head of Field Office?

As Head of Field Office in Garowe, I ensure that resources are used efficiently and that the all mission personnel of the Field Officce, national and international do the best they can with the assets available to engage with our counterparts and implement activities to fulfil our mandate.

What is the mandate of EUCAP Somalia in Puntland?

In Puntland State, we engage with our counterparts to implement previously agreed activities with the aim of reaching our mandate to assist maritime law enforcement agencies of the Federal Member State in strengthening their Coast Guard Function capacities.

Our main counterparts in Puntland are institutions such as Ministries, Attorney General Office (AGO), Puntland State Police (PSP) and its Units like, the Bossaso Port Maritime Police Unit (BP-MPU), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and more recently also the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) .

We are currently based in Garowe, where the PSP has the headquarter and where the Police Commissioner is based. During this mandate we carried out capacity building activities, especially trainings and workshops on law drafting and Standard Operation Procedures (SoP) on police duties, and we supported the chain of justice, enhancing ties among PSP, CID and AGO.

The COVID 19 pandemic has heavily limited our capability to operate in Bossaso but this has improved since last June, allowing us also to started to engage deeply with the PMPF. Nowadays, we regularly travel to Bossasso where we spend a couple of weeks a month to deliver trainings on navigation, radio communication and overall on all aspects that will allow the maritime law enforcement agencies  to efficiently fulfil the Coast Guard functions.

How will the new mission mandate impact on your activities in Puntland?

Starting from January 2023, our focus will be on PMPF, a huge police force based in Bossaso that aims of securing territorial water along Puntland coast. The PMPF is well trained and has a high capacity to deal with security issues, including a great ability to cope at the sea. They have several boats and seven maritime police stations along the coast, all depending from the on Bossaso base.

During the next mandate we will support the PMPF through the implementation of a concept that includes communication, surveillance and facilities (e.g. breakwaters, slipway and floating jetty). We will also continue to advocate so that they become a law enforcement agency officially recognized by national institutions, and international community.

What are the key factors for the achievement of mission objectives in Puntland?

In order to succeed, we need to establish a strong relationship with PMPF. As their capacities are already high, and we won’t start from scratch, we are confident to be able to build upon their competencies to bring them up to the next level. Our permanent relocation to Bossaso, expected next year, is certainly an essential factor in our success.

Pedro is very motivated, resilient and pragmatic. He loves challenges and has high expectation to succeed. While we look forward to seeing the field office moved to Bossasso to work closely with PMPF, we wish him and his team the best of luck for the months ahead!