Over 1500 personnel of the armed forces from Tanzania and the other six East African Community Member States will be gathering in Jinja, Uganda for the regional joint army field training.
That gets conducted through the 12th East African Community’s Armed Forces Field Training Exercise (FTX), of which the newly admitted EAC Member, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) plays observer.
This time the joint army drills carry the tagline of ‘Ushirikiano Imara 2022,’ and run from May 27 all the way to June 16, 2022, in the industrial city of Jinja, Uganda.
Such army field exercises are conducted in accordance with Article 2 of the East African Community Protocol on Cooperation in Defense Affairs.
They operate under the theme, ‘Promoting Peace, Security and Stability towards the East African Community Integration!’
The overall objective of the soldiers’ exercise is to train the Partner States’ Armed Forces, Police, Civilian components and other stakeholders in planning, and conduct an integrated mission encompassing; peace support operations, disaster management, counter terrorism and counter piracy.
The Armed Forces Field Training Exercisea are being held with an aim of enhancing Partner States’ Defense Forces’ capabilities in jointly combatting complex security challenges faced in the region.
The EAC Secretary General, Dr Peter Mathuki stated here that, armed forces in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, South-Sudan and the EAC new member, DR Congo have all confirmed their participation in the Jinja exercise.
“We are expecting at least 1,533 participants across the Partner States and 10 observers from the newly admitted Democratic Republic of Congo,” said the Secretary General.
Dr Mathuki said that the official opening ceremony is scheduled to take place on 3rd June, 2022 with the closing ceremony or VIP scheduled for 10th June, 2022.
The previous East African Field Training Exercise for armed forces took place in November 2018 and was held in Muheza District of Tanga Region in Northern Tanzania.
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