KAMPALA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Military forces from the East African region, the United States and the European Union on Friday completed two weeks of a joint military training exercise in eastern Uganda.
Lt. Gen Wilson Mbadi, Uganda's deputy Chief of Defense Forces, presided over the closing ceremony of the joint Command Post Exercise aimed at improving the capability of the forces to respond to regional security threats and enhance peacekeeping operations.
The event was held at the Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability Center in the eastern town of Jinja.
Mbadi urged the troops to continue working together to strengthen their mandate in peacekeeping missions, most especially the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), according to a military statement issued here.
"Uniting for a purpose and creating partnerships will create and sustain peace and stability in Somalia and beyond," said Mbadi.
"I urge participants to create formidable synergies that will give combined forces much power to achieve a peaceful region and world," he said.
The exercise under the theme "Pamoja Kwenye Dunia Yenye amani", loosely translated as "Together for a peaceful world" attracted troops from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, Netherlands, and United States.
The exercise included scenarios related to conducting peacekeeping operations under the AMISOM.
The troops participated in six stage tactical military decision making process, electronic communication connectivity and counter electronic war-fare, demonstrations on the management and awareness of explosive ordinance devices and forensic bio-metric analysis, operational and tactical peacekeeping scenarios found by troops serving under the AMISOM.
Uganda, Burundi and Kenya have deployed peacekeeping troops under AMISOM to help pacify Somalia.