Regional military intelligence experts conclude course

KIGALI - A graduation ceremony was held Friday at the Mille Collines hotel for 17 officers from eight countries who took part in a special one-month course on military intelligence conducted by the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). This Military Intelligence Professionals Course (MIPC) in which four Rwandans participated, is based on U.S. military intelligence practices and analytical tools, among others. It is the third of its kind after two previous ones held in Kenya and Mali last year. Other participants were from Mozambique, USA, Botswana, Tanzania, Djibouti and Kenya. Terrance M. Ford, the Director of AFRICOM’s Intelligence and Knowledge Development Directorate, supervised the exercise. He told this reporter that MIPC focuses on building the professional skills of professional intelligence officers. “It teaches them how to think, how to deal with analytical problems. It’s a course, as you can see, regionally, that we offer for our African partners,” said Ford, and stressed that MIPC is not tailored to particular problems in any country. “Each country has its own individual problems. What we try to do is develop the skills of these military grade officers so that they can be more effective intelligence officers in their countries.” “So, it is more focused on analytical thinking – it focuses on techniques, tradecrafts and things like that. It deals with the problems at large in a way that brings stability to a region”. Maj. Sam Rutayisire, one of the Rwandan participants acknowledged that the course is significant since the region faces threats ranging from insurgency to terrorism. “The instruction was good, but the best part was just conversations with officers from the other countries – what it is to be in the RDF, what it is to be in the Kenyan military and Botswana military. We shared and learned from each other; the differences and similarities in the various kind of militaries,” Capt. Nick Long of the US army told The New Times. RDF’s head of Military Intelligence, Col. Dan. Munyuza, and Anne Casper, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US embassy, presided over the graduation ceremony. Ends