Twenty four staff officers of the United Nations and the African Union are undergoing a two-week course at Rwanda Peace Academy, Musanze District.The objective of the course is to prepare military officers for staff duties in peace keeping operations so that they can contribute efficiently to implementing military aspects of peace keeping mandates in accordance with principals and guidelines, officials said.It drew participants from eight African countries; Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Sudan, Comoros and Rwanda the host."Military staff officers play a critical role in mission planning, especially at operational and tactical levels. They are assigned various key functions in peacekeeping operations at force, sector and national contingency headquarters,” said Col. Jill Rutaremara, the Academy’s Director, while addressing the participants.

"This course is therefore critical because it will enhance your proficiency in performance of your staff duties. It will also enable you to perform various military functions in an effective, professional and integrated manner, furthermore, the course will orient you to the UN/AU approach to peacekeeping operations.”Rutaremara hailed the partners such as the government of Japan and the the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as well as the government of Rwanda for the continuous support they provided.Brig. Gen (Rtd). Dr Norbert Kalimba, the lead facilitator, said the course was crucial as it would fill the gap in the capacity of peace operation personnel by imparting critical knowledge and skills needed in the complex multidimensional peace keeping missions.

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