African countries meet in Rwanda to strengthen professional military education

Military Institutions drawing from 28 African countries are meeting in Kigali in a 2 day workshop aimed at strengthening professional military education especially in areas of faculty development and the improvement of curriculum design and content.

The workshop is organised in the framework of the Africa Military Education Program (AMEP), under the auspices of the US Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

The 2016 AMEP workshop was officially opened on 31 October 2016 at Radisson Blue Hotel, Kigali by Maj Gen J.Bosco Kazura, the Commandant of RDF Command and Staff College, on behalf of the RDF Chief of Defence Staff. Gen Kazura was along with Matthew Roth, Deputy Chief of Mission U.S. Embassy in Rwanda

In his opening remarks, Maj Gen Kazura said that the workshop is very meaningful, “because it will provide all the participants not only essential knowledge about faculty development and curricula improvement, but also it is a great opportunity to share experiences in security issues for the benefit of our nations’ stability and development”.

He underlined that harmonization and standardization of faculty development and curricula improvement would be beneficial to African Military Institutions, especially in terms of interoperability, much needed in various joint peace operations. “Once we will have officers able to communicate, effectively train and operate together, we will have achieved a high level of interoperability and readiness, hence we will have made a big step towards security and stability of our different nations”, Gen Kazura noted.

He further reiterated Rwanda Defence Force’s commitment to Africa Military Education Program, noting that the workshop is an ideal forum to boost the partnership between the US and African countries with a view to promote peace, stability and security across the African continent through Military professional education.

Matthew Roth, Deputy Chief of Mission U.S Embassy in Rwanda said that Africa Military Education Program is vital in improving military capabilities in partnership between US and African countries. The US diplomat said also that the workshop would provide an opportunity to assess the efficiency of current activities and how to move forward. He particularly thanked the Republic of Rwanda for the good cooperation and continued role in making the AMEP a success.

AMEP is designed to bolster the performance of selected African PME (Professional Military Education) institutions through strategic investments in human and institutional capacity.

Countries represented in the 2016 Kigali AMEP workshop are Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, Benin, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Comoros, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Togo.

MoD

UM– USEKE.RW