EAC army, police chiefs in Uganda for counter terrorism conference

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Army and police security chiefs from East Africa Community (EAC) member countries are in Uganda for conference on combating terrorism and peace support operations.

Deputy Army and Defence Spokesperson, Lt Col Deo Akiiki, said the training is being held in Jinja at Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF)’s Rapid Deployment Capability Center and Junior Staff College.

Akiiki said the conference will also involve military demonstrations on how EAC forces are prepared for peace support operations, counter-terrorism, counter-piracy, and disaster management.

“Under disaster management, the conference underscored the need to give special attention to recurring challenges in the region such as Ebola epidemic,” Akiiki said.

The security chiefs among others army, prison and police commanders, will be chaired by Rwanda’s Maj Gen Aloys Muganga.

Muganga, according to Akiiki, said among other issues to be harmonized in the next three days are logistics requirements for the exercise and review of the timelines.

Akiiki said started with a conference that has begun at Silver Springs Hotel in Kampala before it will be extended to Jinja, would also deliberate on modalities of conducting the 12th Edition Command Post Exercise (CPX) codenamed Ushirikiano Imara 2019 in Uganda.

Dr Omara Sam, from Uganda Embassy in United Arab Emirates, added that the objectives of the exercise are to promote the EAC integration agenda, its awareness, and interoperability of the EAC armed forces and to improve their readiness in responding to complex security challenges in the region.

Brigadier James Kinalwa, UPDF Chief of Recruitment and Training said Uganda was more than ready to conduct the exercises. Kinalwa noted that during the initial planning conference, the delegates inspected and approved the availability of facilities necessary for the conduct of the joint exercise.

Akiiki explained that the hosting of the CPX and Field Training Exercises (FTX) is rotational among the EAC member states. Tanzania hosted the last military exercise in 2017/18 but the exercises have been held since 2005.

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