Advanced logistics Officers Course for African Union peacekeepers opens in Nairobi

29 Sep 2015

Advanced logistics Officers Course for African Union peacekeepers opens in Nairobi

Nairobi, Kenya – 29 September 2015: A total of 17 officers  (16 military and 1 police) attached to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), are undergoing intensive 5-day training, on logistical planning in Nairobi, Kenya.

The United Nations Support Office for AMISOM (UNSOA), the British Peace Support Team (BPST) based in Nairobi and United Kingdom Mission Support Team (UKMST) are supporting the course, which is taking place at the Humanitarian Peace Support School (HPSS).

The participants who are logistics officers serving in different contingents, mission and sector headquarters in Somalia, are drawn from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

The HPSS Commander, Colonel Geoffrey Gitonga officially opened the course on Monday 28 September 2015

The UNSOA Chief Training Officer Mr. Patrick Duah said the aim of the course is to increase the engineering and logistics knowledge of the participants, to develop wider staff capacity and skills, in order to apply the same in mission areas.

Mr. Duah said the objectives of the course is to revise the principles of logistics planning, to have an introduction into the AU-Peace Support Operation (PSO) planning manual, understand the mission support concept and how it impacts on AMISOM operations, as well as a familiarization of the technical aspects of the AMISOM Engineering Support Plans.

Participants will, beside theoretical engagement, carry out intensive planning exercises.

On the first day of training, the officers were taken through presentations on the establishment of Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), engineering support and logistics planning. Emphasis will be on how to support AMISOM operations to counter the terror group Al-Shabaab’s activities in Somalia, which also poses a major threat to countries in the region.

The officers will be expected to employ the skills and knowledge acquired during the training, in planning and supporting their ground commanders at the tactical and operational level.

In his opening remarks, Col. Gitonga told the participants that the decisions they make as logistics officers would determine the success of the troops in the mission areas. He said the content of the course was based on UN concepts.

The facilitators, UKMST logistics adviser Major Robbo Robinson and the UKMST Engineering Adviser for AMISOM Capt. Tom Exelby engaged the participants in discussions on the practical issues and challenges facing the logisticians in the field. The participants will be expected to devise new ways of logistics planning for effective conduct of operations.