Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIA looks forward to training civilian peacekeepers as the country looks to extend her continued contribution to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations.
The East African nation is also expected to build national capacities in conflict prevention and peace building, according to the statement issued by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in Africa (IPCS) on the commemoration of the UN Peacekeepers Day over the weekend.
Civilians work hand in hand with the military and police peacekeepers mostly involved in political and civil affairs, gender, legal, democracy reconstruction and elections management in countries emerging from civil conflicts.
The UN Peacekeepers Day offers a chance to pay tribute to the uniformed and civilian personnel’s invaluable contribution to the work of the Organization and to honour more than 4,000 peacekeepers who lost their lives while serving under the UN flag since 1948, including 130 last year.
“While commemorating the peacekeepers day, the challenges and threats faced by our peacekeepers are even greater than ever as they, like people around the world, are having to cope not only with the Covid-19 pandemic but also the continued requirement to support and protect the people in the countries in which they are based,” the statement quoted the director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in Africa (IPCS) Mr Cosmas Bahali.
Mr Bahali noted that tens of thousands of young peacekeepers between the ages of 18 and 29 years are deployed around the world and play a major role in helping the missions implement their mandated activities including the protection of civilians.
He said the IPCS in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with funding from the Government of Japan, will this month conduct seminars on civilian peacekeeping and Seminar on conflict prevention, mediation and intervention efforts.
IPCS is a Tanzanian based registered Non- state regional civilian Peacekeeping and Peace Building training Institute with a major focus on the African Great Lakes region and horn of Africa to meet the needs of the African Union -African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the demands of United Nations Peacekeeping operations
