Tanzania has inaugurated a National Defence College-NDC. The country will save on foreign exchange that would otherwise be spent on overseas training for military personnel.
Advanced studies at the NDC are aimed at ensuring the Great Lakes Region enjoys peace that has been elusive in some countries for years.
President Jakaya Kikwete said that NDC 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.
The college, which has the capacity to accommodate 40 students, has already admitted 20.
President Kikwete said, “We made it at the Tanzania Military Academy (TMA), we can make it here as well. 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, Kikwete said, “Security is a cross-cutting issue that 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.”
NDC launch comes only a few days after great lakes region heads of state 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.
At the closed door meeting of the ICGLR heads of state in Kampala, Tanzania was the only country that committed troops to form the neutral force to deal with the M23 rebels and patrol DRC Eastern Border.
Additional Info. NMG
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