Forty-three Rwanda National Police (RNP) officers are taking part in the “Shared Accord 2019” military exercise, which was officially launched on Wednesday at Gabiro Combat Training Center in Gatsibo District.
The exercise attracted about 1200 participants from 26 countries, the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN) and Intenational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It combines a Command Post Exercise (CPX) and Field Training Exercise (FTX).
The two-week exercise is held under the theme: “Partnership for Peace and Stability” with the aim of improving operational planning and mission command capabilities with a focus on multidimensional peacekeeping operations.
It is conducted along with a related CPX held at Rwanda Military Academy- Gako, and medical readiness exercise (MEDREX) at Rwanda Military Hospital, Kanombe.
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Safari Uwimana, the exercise Police Commissioner, the role of Police in the exercise will be “crowd control, rescue missions, VIP protection and providing First Aid.”
“Police will be having a critical role that involves mentoring host police, public order management, escorting VIP, human security and doing cordon and search in rescuing,” said ACP Safari.
He added: “This exercise will not only enable the police to enhance their operational readiness but also strengthen command and control as well as interoperability among the different forces in a multidimensional peacekeeping setup in accordance with AU/UN standards.”
The exercise is being conducted by the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), the United States military, several African nations, the European Union and other international organizations.
Rwanda maintains about 1000 Police peacekeepers in various UN missions including three contingents (two Formed Police Units and a Protection Support Unit) in Central African Republic (CAR), as well as three other FPU contingents in South Sudan.
This is the second time this exercise is being conducted in Rwanda after the successful Exercise Shared Accord 18 that took place in August last year.
Participants are from Belgium, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, USA, Eswatini, Italy, Lesotho and Zambia.
The Express News
