Regional police chiefs convene in Kigali

A team of 60 police officers from 12 countries is today scheduled to conduct a police command post exercise after undergoing a two-day joint training on the fight against cross border crimes.The exercise code named “Solidarity” is organised and hosted by the Rwanda National Police.The officers who were drawn from EAPCCO member states have been undergoing training on combating trafficking in persons, terrorism and peace keeping support operations.EAPCCO is the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation.Police Spokesman, Superintendent Theos Badege, told The New Times during an interview that Burundi police chief and UNAMISS police commissioner, Fred Yiga, are already in the country.UNAMISS is the African United Nations for African Missions in South Sudan and Rwanda contributes police officers to the mission.The exercise coordinator, Assistant Commissioner of Police Felix Namuhoranye, said activities involved setting up of scenarios to which the trainees will intervene, using Interpol tools.“A training session has been under way to give guidelines to the trainees on the tools they are going to use tomorrow,” the officer told this newspaper yesterday. He added that though trafficking of persons was not alarming in Rwanda, it is on the high rise in EAPCCO member states justifying the need for joint effort to combat the vice.Though this newspaper could not establish the latest figures on human trafficking in Rwanda and the region by press time, there have been rampant media reports of murder of children and albinos for ritual offerings in Uganda and Tanzania respectively.In Uganda, the police a counter- human trafficking unit was created to curb the vice.Founded in 1998 as a regional practical effort to fight against transnational and organized crime, EAPCCO membership include: Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan.Rwanda is the current chair of the body.