PCPX - SOLIDARITY : Towards Greater Cooperation fora Safer and Secure Region19 - 26 AUG 2012 KIGALI - RWANDA

To effectively combat transnational and cross border crimes requires close cooperation, collaboration and commitment of several states.

This is because it is difficult for a single nation to combat transnational crimes on its own. With crimes such as terrorism, human and drug trafficking on the rise, it is imperative that a common ground is established in the fight against them. The PCPX will also practice on the conduct of peace support operation and this will improve on the ability of police officers to effectively and jointly work together while in PSO.

It is in this regard that Rwanda National Police is set to host the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) Police Command Post Exercise (PCPX) which will be held in Kigali. The exercise code named "Solidarity” is the first of its kind within the region.

The exercise goal is to promote, strengthen and perpetuate cooperation between EAPCCO member states through sharing information, intelligence on cross-border and international organized crimes and cooperation in peace support operations.

Currently EAPCCO is made up of twelve member countries including Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

The PCPX- "Solidarity "2012 aims to harmonise police practices and procedures in order to improve EAPCCO members’ collective capability to combat cross-border and trans-national crime. Based on INTERPOL best practices, PCPX will ensure that participants have a standard operating procedure as far as combating transnational and cross border crimes are concerned.

The mandate of this exercise emanates from the 12th EAPCCO Annual General Meeting held in Khartoum, Sudan in 2010. Article 6 of the resolutions made urge member states to build regional capacity through carrying out where possible, joint exercise play of different scenarios to give police officers a common understanding on how to tackle crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking and response to disaster.

PCPX focuses on three themes which are: human trafficking, counter terrorism as well as peace support operations. Exercise scenarios were developed basing on an imaginary country.

The exercise will help participants demonstrate the use of the INTERPOL tools and databases where they will be proving the power of timely, secure and rapid exchange of information. It will also assist participants in prioritizing information especially in preventing, detecting and investigating human trafficking and terrorism acts.

The PCPX- "Solidarity” 2012 will take place for a period of one week. Sixty participants are expected to attend. These will represent INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs) and peace support operations departments of EAPCCO member states.

The training and conduct of the exercise will be provided by INTERPOL in collaboration with experts from member state partners and stakeholders such as the Eastern Africa Standby Force Coordination Mechanism (EASFCOM).

At the end of the PCPX, participants will have improved their skills in preventing, detecting and investigating human trafficking and terrorism acts, as well as in peace keeping operations.

In the build up to the exercise, the current EAPCCO chairman, Inspector General of Rwanda National Police Emmanuel K. Gasana had urged members to move from commitment to action if the EAPCCO was to remain relevant to its cause.

"It is my conviction that the PCPX- "Solidarity” 2012, more than addressing the aforementioned resolution, presents a paradigm shift in the harmonization process of the regional Police practices in information exchange and legal mutual assistance in combating transnational and organized crime” IGP Gasana points out.

His intent to move from commitment to action were echoed by the head of Interpol Regional Bureau Mr. Rwego Claver Francis who noted that it was time to think over the implementation progress and encourage member states to mobilize resources and facilitate implementation of resolutions.

"It calls for us to get back to the drawing board and look at the resolutions that are yet to be implemented and then encourage member countries to act accordingly”, Rwego said.

The PCPX "Solidarity” 2012 will be graced by both local and foreign dignitaries.