Thursday, June 09, 2016
A KDF soldier takes aim during patrol in Afmadow Town, Somalia on November 22, 2015. The UN Department of Field Support has already started training 60 Kenyan soldiers at the Humanitarian Peace Support School, Embakasi Garrison. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
By FRED MUKINDA
The training is being conducted by military personnel from the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force.
The United Nations will spend more than Sh3.8 billion to strengthen engineering units of the Kenya Army in preparation for deployment to tough terrain in war-torn regions.
Of the soldiers from other countries deployed to Somalia, the Kenya Defence Forces unit will be the first to undergo advanced training.
The UN Department of Field Support has already started training 60 Kenyan soldiers at the Humanitarian Peace Support School, Embakasi Garrison.
“Today’s peacekeeping missions are increasingly operating in non-permissive environments; in some of the poorest, conflict-prone, remote and almost inaccessible areas,” said the training project manager, Mr Harinder Sood.
The training, dubbed Triangular Partnership Project, is being conducted by military personnel from the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force.
The Japanese Government has funded the UN-backed project.
Kenyan troops were chosen for the training because of the challenges they face in Somalia as well as other dangers that might be posed by unstable neighbours.