KAMPALA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Uganda has dispatched a contingent of 219 troops and civilians for a two-week joint East African Community Field Training Exercise (EAC-FTX) in Tanzania, a military spokesperson said on Thursday.
Lt. Col. Deo Akiiki, Uganda's deputy military spokesperson, told Xinhua by telephone that 163 soldiers, 37 police officers, two prisons officers and 17 civilian personnel will participate in the 11th field training exercise, dubbed "FTX USHIRIKINO IMARA" in Tanga region.
Akiiki said the exercise, which attracts over 1,000 troops and civilians from the six EAC partner states, is designed based on peace support operations, disaster management, counter terrorism and counter piracy themes.
"The aim of the exercise is to jointly train and exercise the military, the police and civilian components from the six participating EAC partner states on joint planning and conduct of operations necessary to resolve arising crisis," said Akiiki.
The troops are drawn from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania.
The Ugandan team led by Brig. James Ruhensi was flagged off by Lt. Gen. Wilson Mbadi, deputy Chief of Defenses Forces on Wednesday at the Gadaffi military cantonment headquarters in the eastern town of Jinja.
The participants are expected to enhance the state of readiness of the partner states' armed forces, police, civilian components and other stakeholders in response to complex and multidimensional security challenges in the region.
It will also strengthen cooperation, integration agenda, planning and conduct of public affairs in support of operations among EAC partner states.
The field training exercise was established in 2004 to train forces within EAC member states as a means of demonstrating compatibility and readiness to deploy in peace support operations, basing on past experiences of conflicts in Africa, such as the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
