KAMPALA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Uganda has sent a contingent of 76 troops and civilians for a two-week long joint East African Community (EAC) Command Post training exercise on counterterrorism and peace operations in neighboring Rwanda, a military spokesperson said Tuesday.
A total of 54 military, seven police officers and 15 government officials from different ministries will participate in the training exercise, dubbed "Ushirikiano Imara 2023," which will start Thursday at Musanze in northern Rwanda, said Isaac Okware, spokesperson for the Ugandan contingent, in a statement.
"The exercise will bring together the military, police and civilian components from the seven EAC member states on counterterrorism, piracy, disaster management and peace operations," said Okware.
The troops are drawn from Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania.
The Ugandan team led by Colonel Stuart Agaba was flagged off by Brig. Gen. Matthew Gureme, the military's Chief of Training and Recruitment, Monday afternoon at the Non-Commissioned Officers Academy in the eastern city of Jinja.
The "Ushirikiano Imara," meaning a strong partnership in Swahili, is an annual multinational, multi-disciplinary, multi-dimensional and multi-cultural exercise event held to demonstrate the EAC member states commitment to the enhancement of regional peace and security.
The field training exercise was established in 2004 to train forces within EAC member states as a means of demonstrating compatibility and readiness to deploy in peace support operations, based on past experiences of conflicts in Africa. ■