A two-week course aimed at training civilians from several  regional countries on how to handle themselves during peace support operations (PSO) closed yesterday at Rwanda Peace Academy.The training, dubbed PSO Foundation Course, attracted 23 participants from eight East African Standby Force (EASF) member states.While closing the training, Brig. Gen. Andrew Rwigamba, the Director General of Foreign Military Relations and Cooperation at the Ministry of Defence, said maintenance of peace is a duty not only for the armed forces, but civilians as well.The course was aimed at introducing participants to the methods and concepts of contemporary PSO, in preparation for peace operations in the region and on the African continent.Rwigamba urged the graduates to work hard in order to bring about peace in their respective countries and anywhere else."While the potential for inter-state disputes has diminished, there are emerging challenges to peace and stability, including ethic conflict, socio-economic difficulties, the collapse of political orders, among others,” he said There is no development without peace and there is no security without development, he saidCol. Jill Rutaremara, the director of Rwanda Peace Academy, said the course, the second of its kind, is in line with the academy’s commitment to deliver international programmes.