Army chief Mbadi emphasises need to take charge of security architecture
The Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, has said that the readiness of the military forces through training for all forms of peace support operations is vital if Africa is to confidently boast of being in charge of its security architecture.
“Peace Support Operations, which are supposed to be conducted impartially in support of a mandate involving military forces and diplomatic and humanitarian agencies to co-achieve a long-term political settlement, unfortunately tend to be military-reliant,” he said.
The CDF said that in most conflict situations, the absence of peace to keep and support demands that peace be created first.
Mbadi made the remarks during the closure of the 17th African Conference of Commandants under the theme, “Aligning Peace Support Operations Training in Africa to the Contemporary Security Scenarios.”
He also witnessed the handover or takeover of the association’s chairmanship from Uganda to the State of Libya.
“I applaud this theme as well-thought-out and most befitting in the circumstances since, according to the World Economic Forum, new wars, violent conflicts, and civil unrest seem to be flaring up.”
Mbadi urged the participants from the respective countries to ensure that the strategic outputs of the ACoC arrangement are tailored to Africa’s experiences so that it becomes a formidable tool given Africa’s complex and ambiguous security environment.
He applauded the outgoing chairman, Maj. Gen. George Igumba, for successfully hosting the conference upon taking over from Angola in November 2022.
Maj. Gen. George Igumba, the Commandant Senior Command and Staff College, Kimaka, and the outgoing chairman of ACoC, appreciated the delegates for honouring the invitation, which made the conference a success in its entirety, and the unwavering support they accorded him during his tenure as chairman.
“Your commitment to ensuring that the aspirations of our strategic leaders for a United Africa are evident from the very thoughts we shared amongst ourselves since we converged a couple of days ago,” he said.
Maj. Gen. Igumba urged his successor from Libya to come up with a harmonised curriculum for African Command and Staff Colleges in order to enhance military standards through aggressive engagement with the members and cooperation through exchange programmes and combined joint military exercises.
He thanked partners from the British Training Support Centre in Africa for their support of the association.
The incoming chairman of the association, Air Commodore Nouri Maghidr for the State of Libya, said in his remarks that such an event has become a meeting point to enrich all topics of interest on the African continent.
He thanked the members for their confidence and for entrusting the State of Libya to chair and host the next meetings.
The conference attracted delegates from Mauritania, Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Botswana, Burundi, Zimbabwe, the State of Libya, Zambia, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, and observers from the African Centre for Strategic Studies and the British Training Support Centre for Africa.
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