Military officers trained on peacekeeping skills

Monday, October 19, 2015

United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support Anthony Banbury (7th from left, seated) in a group photo with other participants at the Humanitarian Peace Support School in Embakasi, Nairobi on October 16, 2015. PHOTO | COURTESY | UN

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Military personnel drawn from East Africa have completed a six-week course on engineering and logistics, to speed up their response time in peacekeeping missions in Africa.

The officers were trained on operation and maintenance of heavy engineering equipment, best practices on equipment handling and procurement processes, which are core in peacekeeping missions.

Mr Anthony Banbury, the United Nations assistant secretary-general for Field Support, said peacekeeping missions in Africa have had good infantry units but lacked logistics and engineering capabilities to support them, adding that the Triangular Partnership Project was aimed at addressing the gap.

“The rapid deployment of engineering capabilities to peacekeeping missions in Africa remains an urgent requirement. All professional soldiers know that military operations cannot be successful without logistics and without engineering,” he said.

The training, which drew officers from the four East African Community countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, was held at the Humanitarian Peace Support School in Embakasi, Nairobi.

Mr Banbury, who was the chief guest, further said that delays in the deployment of UN troops because of lack of infrastructure could reduce chances for peace and erode trust in the international community, by populations living in stressed and conflict environments.

“Rapid deployment of troops into well situated and defended camps can greatly improve conditions on the ground, build confidence, provide stability and ensure that the United Nations is able to create and maintain peace. This is a fundamental need that this project is designed to help meet.”

PROGRESSIVE PROGRAMME

The training is one of the several programmes planned by the UN and the United Nations Support Office (Unsoa) for African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), to equip military personnel in the continent with the necessary skills prior to deployment to UN peacekeeping missions.

Mr Banbury thanked the facilitators including the governments of Japan and Kenya and the United Nations Office for Project Services (Unops) for organising the training, saying countries had the opportunity of learning from the project.

Speaking on behalf of the Japanese government, the Director of Operations Support Division in the Ministry of Defence in Japan, Colonel Kazuo Sakai, said his country’s contribution was in line with its policy on proactive contribution to international peace and stability. Eleven Japanese instructors trained the soldiers for the entire six weeks.

Brigadier Jonah Mwangi, who represented the Kenya Defence Force at the ceremony, described the event as an important milestone in improving rapid deployment in peacekeeping missions.

He said: “The rapid deployment of engineering capability to United Nations and African Union peacekeeping missions, particularly in Africa requires timely response.”

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