A two-week United Nations Police peacekeeping course ended yesterday at the Police Training School (PTS) Gishari in Rwamagana District with a call for the officers to aim for perfection and peace building in conflict-ridden nations.

While presiding over the official closing of the international peacekeeping course, the Rwanda National Police Deputy Inspector General in charge of Administration and Personnel, Juvenal Marizamunda, thanked participants for their "dedication and enthusiasm to learn” which, he said, will help in shaping peacekeeping operations.

"What you learnt here is for your own benefit, the benefit of your respective institutions and people in missions where you will be deployed, so endeavor to put to use what you have learnt as we strive to make the world safer for all,” DIGP Marizamunda said.

He thanked the PTS leadership for conducting the course successfully and wished participants safe return back home.

The course, organised in partnership with the Eastern African Standby Force (EASF) and the British Peace Support Team (BPST), brought together 60 Police officers from eight countries.

Participating countries were Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda Demark and Rwanda, the host.

The course was designed to offer participants with the overview of the UN and AU, the dynamics of peacekeeping operations, the expected challenges in the missions and techniques of overcoming them, the skills, knowledge and attitude mandatory for any police officer in a peacekeeping mission among other subjects.

It is intended to produce more skilled police officers to support the consolidation of the recently achieved full operational capability of EASF.

The EASF is one of the five regional multidimensional Forces of the African Standby Force (ASF) consisting of Military, Police and Civilian components with a mandate to enhance peace and security in the Eastern Africa region.

It was established as a regional mechanism to provide capability for rapid deployment of forces to carry out preventive deployment, rapid intervention, peace support operations and peace enforcement.

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