Friday, June 15, 2007

Cambodian troops take UN peacekeeping training courses

6/15/2007

Scores of Cambodian troops are taking United Nations (UN) peacekeeping training courses here on June 4-17, which aim to improve their peace support operations.

Ninety-nine members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and eight U.S. military personnel are participating in the program named Cambodia Peace Support Operations (PSO) 2007, at the Training and Mine Unexploded Ordnance Clearance Center (TMCC), the proposed site for Cambodia's future peacekeeping training center, said a press release issued by the U.S. embassy during a press visit on Friday.

The training program will enable RCAF instructors and participants to gain UN "Training Recognition", allowing them to conduct possible peacekeeping missions worldwide under the Global Peace Operation Initiative (GPOI), a five-year peace operation capacity building program managed by the U.S. Department of State to address gaps in international peace support operations, the press release said.

The peacekeeping training is based on UN guidelines and procedures and incorporates what every peacekeeper needs to know about UN peacekeeping tactics, techniques, and procedures, it added.

There are over 215 UN Peacekeeping tasks. Of these, 33 of the most common tasks were selected through coordination with the UN's Department of Peacekeeping and incorporated into six "lanes" or situations: checkpoint operations, patrolling, humanitarian aid distribution, guarding fixed sites, convoy operations, and cordon and search, according to the press release.

Each lane has a primary task objective and several sub tasks and is designed to improve speed of response, mission effectiveness, interoperability, and unity of effort, it said.

The exercise is sponsored by the RCAF and the U.S. Pacific Command with the support of the U.S. Department of State, it added.

Source: Xinhua

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