Ugandan troops in Tanzania for joint regional training exercise

KAMPALA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan military and police officers on Monday joined their regional counterparts for a two-week joint East Africa Community (EAC) command post exercise on peace support operation, counter terrorism and disaster management.

Lt. Col. Deo Akiiki, Ugandan deputy military spokesperson, told Xinhua that the officers will participate along the other five EAC partner states armies and police in the exercise code named "CPX USHIRIKIANO IMARA 2017" that kicked off on Monday in the Tanzanian city of Dar-es-salaam.

Uganda on Friday dispatched a team of 40 military and police officers for the two-week joint command post exercise that kicked off on Monday until Dec.17.

"The exercise is aimed at improving the skills of the troops to deal with instability and security in the EAC region," said Akiiki.

At least 240 military, police and civilians from the EAC partner states of Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan will participate in the command post exercise.

The exercise aims at engaging the EAC armed forces and civilians in the planning and conduct of integrated peace support operation, disaster management, counter-terrorism and counter-piracy in order to improve capabilities to jointly combat complex security challenges.

Security remains a primary concern for the EAC partner states due to instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Somalia. Enditem