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Kampala,
Uganda, August 15, 2009 – A standby force in the Eastern Africa region
will be ready for deployment in conflict prone areas by next year, the
Director of Eastern Africa Standby Brigade Coordination Mechanism has
said.
A Kenyan retired Col. Peter Marwa said the standby force will comprise
of the military, civil police and civilians who will be able to
undertake peacekeeping missions in African Union.
“The Eastern African Standby Force is one of the five regional standby
forces within the African Peace and Security Architecture which is
expected to be operational and ready for deployment by the year 2010,”
Col. Marwa said on Monday.
Col. Marwa made the revelation at the opening of the second police point
of contact workshop for the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) in
Kampala. The Eastern African region comprise of 13 countries including
Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti,
Ethiopia, Sudan, Comoros, Seychelles, Rwanda, Burundi and Madagascar.
Col. Marwa said after they held a command post exercise under the
multidimensional system in November last year, they were to hold a field
training exercise in two months time.
He said 1,500 officers including army, police officers and civilians
will participate in the training.
Norway, Japan and Germany have each provided funding and volunteered
support for the initiative. The Director of Uganda Police Human Resource
Management and Development, Mr Richard Busherurwa, said the inclusion of
the police component in the peacekeeping mission is very important and
has been overdue given the fact that such missions have been driven by
the military component.
“The aim and objectives of this workshop is to energize police planning,
coordination and map out strategies in fast tracking the development and
operationalisation of the EASF police component,” he said.
Mr Busherurwa, however, said in their execution of their mandate, they
must endure that fundamental human rights of all individuals are
observed and respected.
Source: MONITOR, Tuesday, 11 August 2009
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