Twenty-three Police officers from the Eastern Africa Stand-by Force (EASF) member countries are meeting in Kigali in a training on assessment, verification and management of pledged Police capabilities.

The five-day training workshop was opened on Monday, July 24, by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) in charge of Operations, Vincent Sano.

Rwanda pledged Police, military and civilian personnel as well as logistics to the regional body composed of 10 active members, namely; Rwanda, Burundi, Seychelles, Djibouti, Kenya, Comoros, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda.

The EASF is one of the five regional multidimensional Forces of the African Standby Force (ASF) mandated to enhance peace and security in the Eastern Africa region.

Sano reiterated Rwanda National Police's readiness to deploy a Formed Police Unit (FPU) and Individual Police Officers (IPO).

"The EASF, as a regional body mandated to respond to any conflict or other crisis situations in the region...it is paramount to adequately prepare the required Police and other capabilities for deployment in peace support operations," DIGP Sano said.

The workshop aims to address challenges in the management of the Police pledged capabilities, which were identified in the report of the panel of independent experts on verification, confirmation and validation of the EASF pledged capabilities also known as 'Gambari Report.'

"This is a good opportunity to discuss relevant thematic areas related to these challenges and exchange views on enhancing preparations and management of pledged Police capabilities. The contribution of each and everyone is of great value," Sano noted.

The EASF Head of Police component, Commissioner Ali Said Bacar, thanked Rwanda for its commitment to the regional force.

"We are here to jointly address challenges that might hinder the peace and security mandate," Commissioner Bacar said.

He emphasized the importance of having well equipped forces ready for deployment at any time of need.