Military officers from regional countries who attended the just-concluded UN Staff Officers’ course at the Rwanda Peace Academy have pledged to put to good use the skills they acquired from the training.

The course, which took place in Musanze, brought together 25 participants from six regional countries. It ended on Friday.

The course aimed at preparing staff officers at planning level for key functions in the UN peacekeeping operations, especially in the area of implementing military aspects of peacekeeping mandates.

"The course has empowered us with skills to enable us conduct our duties professionally while serving in United Nations missions,” Brig. Gen. Mou Manasseh, from South Sudan, said.

Another participant, Maj. Fred Baguma from Uganda, said: "We now know a lot about the role of staff officers at UN peacekeeping operations.”

The training was organised by Rwanda Peace Academy in collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar).

Participants were drawn from Djibouti, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.