African military officers conclude security course

Musanze-Senior Military officers, drawn from several African countries emerging from conflict, yesterday completed an international course in security sector reforms.The two-week training, which drew 30 participants, including police officers and officials from the judicial sector, was held at Rwanda Peace Academy, Nyakinama.The course, which was organised by the International Security Sector Advisory Team-ISSAT, in partnership with Rwanda Peace Academy, also doubled as a training of trainers programmeWest African states represented included Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, who were mainly here to learn from Rwanda’s experience in peace building. Partner states of the East African Community (EAC) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were also represented. The Minister of Defence, James Kabarebe, who presided over the closing ceremony, urged post conflict countries to consider security as a prerequisite for development.“Security sector reform is not only for post conflict countries, but for every country, and it is always a combined effort for all actors, both national and international, and its outcome has a direct relationship with human security,” Kabarebe said. The two-week course is the second to be held in Africa, following the inaugural one in Bamako, Mali, last year and mainly focused on security sector reform challenges related to peace support operations.“The success of this course will therefore be judged on the degree to which it contributed to the achievement of freedom from fear and freedom from want for the citizens of the concerned countries,” Kabarebe underscored.He said that Rwanda is committed to building and sustaining capacity to address national issues in the wider sense of security sector reform towards a positive peace and sustainable development, as well as being a responsible player in world peace and security. The ISSAT team leader, Lt. Gen. Marc Caron, hailed Rwanda’s vision of promoting peace and visionary leadership.“Every one of you should take the lessons leant from this course and the experiences shared for promotion of peace and security, which will lead to the welfare of the ordinary people,” Carson urged.The Director of Rwanda Peace Academy, Col. Innocent Kabandana, informed those present that Rwanda Peace Academy remains committed to the promotion of national, regional and continental peace and security through training grounded in post conflict areas.The visiting Ivory Coast, Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Soumaïla Bakayoko, also attended the ceremony. Two officers from his country participated in the training.

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African military officers conclude security course