Biruk Girma
20 April 2008
Addis Abeba — The Ministry of National Defense (MoND) and the British government on Thursday launched a Peacekeeping English Project (PEP) with a view to help Ethiopian peacekeepers meet the standards and participate in foreign peace missions.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed to that effect between State Minister of Defence Kassahun Dender and British Ambassador to Ethiopia Norman Ling aimed at inaugurating the roll-out of the project intended to build English language skills of its personnel.
Under the MoU, the British government will put aside 3.8 million ETB for the first year of the initiative to run until at least 2011 and be supplemented by funds from the Ethiopian MOD.
Ambassador Norman said the program will be instrumental in Ethiopia's bid to build capacity of its personnel in the context of international peace keeping operations, where it is the 7th largest troop contributing country in the world.
The ambassador said the language training would be important in helping the personnel to communicate effectively in future AU-UN deployments.
The state minister on his part noted that the project was timely, strategic and responsive to the force's needs.
He said the project was set to develop a fully sustainable and self-sufficient language training system for the Ethiopian Armed Forces which will enable continued and increased contribution to international peacekeeping operations.
The Project is an initiative funded by the British Government to help build the capacity of countries to participate effectively in international peace support and humanitarian relief operations.
In Ethiopia the project will support the Ministry of Defence to set up and deliver intensive English courses, with teaching conducted by Ethiopian teachers supported by the British Council.
"This will help ensure that Ethiopia has sufficient English language speakers to meet its immediate and future multinational obligations," the embassy said in a statement adding, Ethiopian personnel assigned to operations will now have to meet the AU language standards for peacekeeping.
The project will be managed by a British Council-Ethiopia representative working in the Ethiopian Ministry of National Defense who will support English language training systems in both Addis Ababa and other regional command centers in Ethiopia.
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