Theresa May to send hundreds of troops to Somalia and £660 million to tackle terror and migrant crisis in Syria
In her maiden UN address, the PM promised to tackle terror and the migrant crisis through 'preemptive' foreign policy
THERESA MAY is sending hundreds of troops to Somalia and ploughing another £660 million-worth of aid into Syria to tackle terror and the migrant tide.
In a dramatic increase in Britain's humanitarian effort, the PM used her maiden address to the UN last night to dramatically step up a 'preemptive' foreign policy.
Up to 30 troop training teams are to be sent to war ravaged Somalia amid growing concerns of a resurgence of Al Shabaab terrorists in the country.
Over a rolling 18 month programme No.10 said hundreds of troops would be sent out to train up local forces - including work on IEDs.
Separately the PM pledged a further £660 million of taxpayers cash from the overseas aid budget towards humanitarian causes.
A huge amount is set to be spent on the camps bordering Syria. A further £80 million will be invested to create up to 100,000 jobs in Ethiopia, with 30,000 earmarked for refugees in the country that would otherwise risk their lives heading to Europe.
A No.10 source said: "It's a foreign and aid policy that puts Britain's interests first." Britain has already spent £1 billion on helping Syrian refugees in camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
And it has played a leading role in the fight against Al Shabaab since 2010.
But a No.10 source said the Somalia deployment - Mrs May's first troop deployment as - was designed to ensure there is no "backsliding".
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Mrs May told world leaders: "It is vital that as an international community we continue to support countries in the region that are contributing thousands of troops, and that we continue to build the capacity of Somali security forces.
"That is why the UK is now going to increase further our security support and we will be calling on others to do the same."
The commitment comes just days after the Government said it would be radically reshaping the £12 billion aid budget to tackle migration and create jobs in poor countries. Mrs May said it was vital the world's richest nations support countries in Africa and the Middle East.
She told the UN: "Across the world there are 65 million people who have been forcibly displaced.
"That is equivalent to the entire population of the UK. It is an unprecedented figure and one that has double in a decade. And yet UN appeals are underfunded, host countries are not getting enough support and refugees are not getting the aid."
On Monday, the PM called for the creation of a "first safe country" to ensure refugees claimed asylum in the first place they reach when fleeing conflict.
And she insisted countries did more to distinguish between refugees and economic migrants simply after a better life, saying they were undermining confidence in legal migration routes.