SA hosts 11th African Commandants conference

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The commandants of the African Armed Forces Command are holding their 11th session in Tshwane to discuss ways to enhance military professionalism in Africa.

The session brings together defence industry players, key military representatives and individuals from 23 countries across the world under the theme, “The relevance of African military/security historical case studies and scenarios”.

Speaking at the opening session on Wednesday, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the annual gathering provides an opportunity to check progress made and where there is a need to help one another, in the spirit of achieving the goals of Agenda 2063, but also enhancing peace and security on the continent.

The African Conference of Commandants (ACOC) needs to enhance “harmonization, interoperability, commonality, standardization and cooperation between African Command Staff Colleges”, according to its founding aims and objectives, the Minister said.

Among its objectives are to contribute to African security through quality education, which would provide the required knowledge and training to equip students with the necessary skills and development, the developing responsive curriculum to meet professional military standards, translating knowledge into continental standards for training and development  of military officers, and developing co-operation amongst African staff colleges through benchmarking.

“Therefore as we gather for this session of ACOC 2017, let us reflect on whether we achieved the objectives of the founding conference as stated earlier…. we need to put our shoulders behind the wheel to ensure that we bring lasting peace and stability to our continent.”

As the session gets underway, Minister Mapisa-Nqakula said the delegates need to think about how to develop civil-military relations in respective countries, the linkages between Security and development and between Security and justice, as well as how do country experiences bode for creating a sustainable peacekeeping capability in Africa.

ACOC was formed in 2007 to enhance military professionalism on the African continent through effective utilization of education, training and development of officers, in command and staff colleges. - SAnews.gov.za