Tue, 29 Aug 2017 11:05:49 +0000
By Mukosela Kasalwe
GOVERNMENT will continue to participate and support the effective management of conflicts within the regions of the world, says Minister of Defence Davis Chama.
Mr Chama said recent years have seen greater emphasis being placed on the involvement and commitment of the regional organisations in conflict resolution.
The minister said in Lusaka yesterday, at the official launch of a Combined Joint African Exercise 2017 dubbed “Exercise Uhuru” in a speech read Defence Permanent Secretary Stardy Mwale, that the programme was a United Kingdom sponsored initiative to encourage common working practices between all African Staff Colleges.
Mr Chama said the exercise was being conducted under the auspice of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on behalf of the African Union and the African Conference of Commandants (ACOC).
He said the same peace support operations planning package and exercise was concurrently running in Botswana and South Africa.
“The ‘Exercise Uhuru’ is a UK sponsored initiative, intended to encourage synergy and common working practises between all African Staff Colleges. It is important to note that the same peace support operations planning package, and exercise is concurrently running in Botswana and South Africa,” he said.
Mr Chama said the aim of the exercise was to achieve a thorough understanding of the challenges involved in planning and coordinating a complex, multinational peace support operations by applying African Union peace support operations doctrine and planning principles to any given scenario.
He said the Combined Joint African Exercise had become the most important activity in the Command and Staff programme and expressed confidence that the initiative would have positive effect on the operational capability of the African standby force and SADC Brigade.
