The Minister of State for Defence, Jacob Marksons Oboth has commended the African Conference of Commandants (ACoC) for its contribution towards Africa’s security through quality military education and enhancing cooperation amongst African Staff Colleges.
“It is my pleasure to learn that this organization, the African Conference of Commandants, brings together African Staff Colleges and Military institutions with a mission to conceptualize, reform and enhance the education and development of military officers to support policy formulation and military standards in Africa,” said Oboth
The Minister made the remarks during the opening of the 17th African Conference of Commandants at Royal Suites, Bugolobi under the theme, “Aligning Peace Support Operations Training in Africa to the Contemporary Security Scenarios.”
Minister Oboth noted that the theme aligns with the countries’ security requirements because African countries are getting more involved in Peace Support Operations as a result of constant conflicts among the communities. “It is vital that our training syllabi take cognizant of the need to impress the teaching of Peace Support Operations in our staff colleges and other military institutions of higher learning,” Oboth added.
He encouraged the participants to deliberate on the suggestions made by the Staff College Chief Instructors during their conference that was held in July in Kampala.
Major General George Igumba, the Commandant Senior Command and Staff College, Kimaka who doubles as the current chairman of ACoC applauded members for their tremendous cooperation and support during the period under review.
“It reaffirms our commitment to the principles of finding African solutions to the problems we face as a people of this continent,” said Maj Gen Igumba adding that this is an indication to move Africa’s Staff Colleges to greater heights through harmonization and standardization of curricula and cooperation of the Staff Colleges.
He revealed that by the end of the conference, they will have identified the country to take over the chairmanship from Libya come November next year.
The aim of the African Conference of Commandants (ACoC) is to enhance harmonization, interoperability, commonality, standardization and cooperation between African Staff colleges as it is contributing to African peace and security through mechanisms such as the African Standby Force (ASF) and Peace Support Operations (PSOs).
The conference has attracted participants from; Mauritania, Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, Côte D’Ivoire, Cameroon, Botswana, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Libya, Zambia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, and observers from the African Centre for Strategic Studies.