A female Assessment Mission Service (AMS) instructors course started on Monday, October 17, at the Police Training School (PTS) in Gishari, Rwamagana District. The five-day pre-Selection Assistance and Assessment Team (SAAT) course brought together 24 police officers from six East Africa Standby Force (EASF) member states. It is conducted in partnership with EASF, Denmark and Norway. The Commandant of PTS, Commissioner of Police (CP), Robert Niyonshuti, while officially opening the course on behalf of Rwanda National Police (RNP) leadership, said that it signifies the commitment of EASF member states to empower women in maintaining and sustaining a fully operational and multidimensional integrated standby force ready to respond to emerging crisis. “Rwanda is committed to ensure that women fully participate in the peace and security processes,” CP Niyonshuti said. Rwanda is among the leading contributors of police peacekeepers, with at least women representing 30 per cent. To fulfil the EASF commitment, CP Niyonshuti said there is a need to have competent, disciplined, skilled and professional police and this is achieved through training. He added that prior to police deployment in any peacekeeping missions, it is mandatory that selected police officers be trained and assessed to ascertain their competence. “For Individual Police Officers to be deployed, this assessment is conducted by certified instructors and focuses on the knowledge of United Nations peace operations and policing standards; language skills, driving firearms handling and shooting as well as computer skills. These are tasks that await you after completing this course,” the Commandant told the participants. Col. Ali Mohamed Robleh, the Head of Police Component at EASF, said that the bloc will continue its gender promotion policy in order to increase the visibility of female police officers from member states in the activities of the police component of the EASF. “Females deserve their place in the spotlight just like their male colleagues,” Col. Robleh said. Bjarne Askholm, the EASF Police Advisor for International Advisory and Coordination (IACS), said that during the five days, participants will learn and share experiences. “You will be guided on how to act as Female Assessment Mission Service (AMS) Pre-Saat instructor and train each other to enable your competencies,” Askholm said. The course, the first of its kind, aims to strengthen the capacity of the EASF, enable member states to have Selection Assistance and Assessment Teams that will be responsible for pre-selecting and preparing Individual Police Officers in their respective countries to take part in the mandatory examination called Mission Service Assessment, whether organised by the UN or the AU. They will also be supporting AU or UN SAATs during their visit to conduct AMS in their respective countries or in other EASF member states.
