NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 28, 2008 — The Standby High Readiness Brigade for United Nations Operations (SHIRBRIG) participated in an exercise from 18 to 28 November 2008 at the International Mines Action Training Centre, Embakasi, Nairobi in support of the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (EASBRIG).
The purpose of the exercise was to test readiness of the regional force towards the operationalisation of the African Standby Force (ASF). It was a crucial step toward forming a regional force that can quickly deploy to take on security, humanitarian and other crises.
A dozen members of SHIRBRIG supported the exercise with mentoring and coaching EASBRIG headquarters staff, providing advice to the Planning Element and with evaluating each aspect of the exercise.
Mixture of African and SHIRBRIG officers during the exercise (Photo: SHIRBRIG)
“SHIRBRIG has provided tremendous and
well appreciated assistance to EASBRIG since the early stages of the planning of
this exercise,” said Brigadier General Frank Kamanzi, Director of the exercise.
“The most significant contribution of SHIRBRIG’s members has been to complement
EASBRIG effort by sharing their experience and expertise in making this exercise
successful.”
Along with SHIRBRIG, many other organizations at different levels with subject matter experts, representatives from the UN, European Union, France and the US participated to the exercise.
“Without our partners' support, we would not have been able to hold the exercise this year,” said Brigadier General Salimou Amiria, chairman of the Chiefs of Defence staff of the Eastern Africa region.
SHIRBRIG Branch Chief G5 LTC Pardo de Santayana (Photo: SHIRBRIG)
The regional brigade brought together 13 Eastern Africa countries and is part of
the African Stand-by Force, also comprised of stand-by brigades from the four
other regions of the continent, namely, Southern, Northern, Western and Central
Africa.
For the Eastern Africa region, this exercise is considered even more fundamental because its success will ensure the necessary validation and provide the impetus for the forthcoming field training exercise scheduled for the end of 2009.
Article by Mike Mailloux, acting PIO