The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) through the SADC Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre (RPTC), hosted the SADC Integrated Mission Operational Commanders (IMOC) Course for Peace Support Operations (PSO) from 13-24 February 2023 in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The aim of the IMOC Course was to enhance and harmonize the operational command capacities of the African Union/SADC Standby Force in the effective planning and coordination of integrated multidimensional PSOs, in accordance with AU and SADC Guidelines. In effect, the course targeted the training of the components of Multidimensional PSOs, and invited 21 participants from the Military, Police and Civilian SADC Standby Force databases.
The 2 weeks course engaged participants on sessions that involved understanding the International and Operational Legal Frameworks of PSOs, including Mission Mandating Processes and the Mission Planning of PSOs. ACCORD’s contribution to the course involved facilitating sessions on Dialogue, Mediation and Negotiation.
Enhancing the capacity of a ready-to-deploy SADC Standby Force has been necessitated by the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), and the need to respond to increasingly complex conflict dynamics in the region. Working towards this need is also in line with ACCORD’s strategic objective to enhance regional institutional capacities to respond to complex conflict dynamics.
Through the Training for Peace (TfP) Programme, ACCORD continues to support SADC and the African Regions efforts to enhance the capacity of ready-to-deploy personnel. The TfP Programme is an initiative funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
