Dar college to boost Great Lakes defence

Monday, 10 September 2012 23:47

President Jakaya Kikwete is shown around the library by Major Yuda Kitinya, the officer responsible for research and references, at the National Defence College, at Kunduchi in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO | THE CITIZEN PHOTOGRAPHER By Alex Bitekeye The Citizen Reporter Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s contribution to peace building and maintenance in the Great lakes Region was boosted yesterday with the opening of the National Defence College (NDC).Among other things, the modern college, which was inaugurated by President Jakaya Kikwete, who is also the commander in chief of the armed forces, will see the country saving on foreign exchange that would otherwise be spent on overseas training for military personnel. Advanced studies to be offered at the facility, according to President Kikwete, will go a long way in ensuring the Great Lakes Region enjoys peace that has been elusive in some countries for years now. Courses will include security planning, both internal and external. In the near future, the college will, in collaboration with the University of Dar es Salaam, offer MA in Strategic and Peace studies, said the President. The college, which has the capacity to accommodate 40 students, has already admitted 20. “We made it at the Tanzania Military Academy (TMA), we can make it here as well,” said the President, adding: “This is a quality institution which will offer studies to soldiers from other Great Lakes Region while we also cut costs which we had been incurring in sending our senior officers abroad for courses that are now available here.” Challenging the college management to maintain and even push up the quality of training, Mr Kikwete said: “Security is a cross-cutting issue which requires participation and commitment of all stakeholders. As our contribution to this noble endeavour, Tanzania decided to put up a college to cater, not only for our security personnel, but also for high level public servants.” When asked why the college has been built at this particular time, he said: “We have well equipped training camps on which we built as a foundation for our army. Now it is high time we shifted our attention to senior-most officers.” Earlier, NDC Commandant, Major-General Charles Makakala, noted that optimal national security can only be achieved if the various departments of the government work harmoniously. He said the college would provide a forum to bring together senior officers from various sections of the government and avail them with structured exposure to issues of security and strategies. “Under the contemporary complex national, regional and global strategic landscape, the forces that shape our defence and security environment go beyond the purview of the military,” said Maj-Gen Makakala. Speaking at the occasion, the Minister for Defence and National Service, Mr Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, said the college will provide a place for government officials to sharpen their skills concerning in strategic planning and other courses related to security. Yesterday’s launch comes only a few days after President Kikwete and his Great Lakes Region counterparts concluded a summit in Kampala that deliberated on the peace and security in the region, with special focus on the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo. The meeting had ended with a resolution to form a regional force to be deployed in the DRC, but there was no firm commitment on how to end the fighting in eastern part of the country that has forced tens of thousands of civilians to go on exile. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete, DRC’s Joseph Kabila, South Sudan’s Salva Kiir and other senior government officials from Rwanda, Zambia, Sudan, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Angola and Burundi concluded the two-day summit, weeks after they held a similar one on DRC. During the closed-door meeting, Tanzania was the only country that committed troops although the numbers were not revealed. The leaders, according to a joint communiqué, called upon member states to make the same commitment within a month. The leaders agreed to meet again next month and a UN mini-summit will be held towards the end of this month to seek an end to fighting DRC. In July, the regional leaders met on the sidelines of the African Union Summit and agreed to deploy a neutral force to fight negative forces in eastern DRC including the M23 rebels that are responsible for the latest fighting.