Carabinieri sign Agreement with IPSTC to implement EU training session in Embakasi.

As of 6th May 2013 the Director of the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC), Brig. Gen. Robert G. KABAGE, and Brig. Gen. Sebastiano COMITINI, on behalf of Italian Carabinieri, have finalized a Local Technical Agreement on provision of assistance to the European Union Services Training (EUPST 2011-2013). The delegation of the Carabinieri was assisted throughout by the Embassy of Italy in Nairobi, which also organized a number of bilateral meetings with Kenyan authorities.
The agreement enables the implementation of a training session to be held from 16th to 26th September 2013, under the aegis and funding of the European Union, in the training area of the Humanitarian Peace Support School (HPSS), an IPSTC compound located in Embakasi – Nairobi.
EUPST is the largest European Union exercise on Civilian Crisis Management ever conceived, led by Italian Carabinieri (as project coordinator of a consortium composed of some other public agencies from EU Countries) under the EU Instrument for Stability.
It consists of 7 sessions in total to be conducted in Europe (Italy, Spain, France, and the Netherlands) and in Africa (Kenya and Cameroon) through which a total of 2.400 police officers from Europe and African Union Countries will gather to enhance their skills for serving in EU, UN, AU or other international civilian crisis management operations. They will receive training in the following areas: Headquarters’ management, Criminal Investigations on war crimes, Crowd & Riot Control, Forensic Investigations, Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT), Close Protection, Explosive Ordnance Devices (EOD), Humanitarian Aid, Human Rights in policing, Gender equality and the rights and protection of women and girls in the perspective of International Peace operations and Crisis management operations, Civil-military cooperation procedures, Best common practices evaluation.
As far as the Kenyan exercise is concerned, more than 460 police officers will partake, including 380 from African Countries, and 55 Carabinieri acting as coordinators. Kenya, as Host Nation, will provide with the bulk of the officers.
It will be an intensive training carried out in partnership with the African Union Peace Support Operation Division (PSOD) and Eastern African Standby Forces Police Planning Element.
The joint strong commitment from Carabinieri and IPSTC in supporting such civilian crisis management session not only strengthens their pivotal role in the international peace operations context, but also consolidates the excellent state of relations between Italy and Kenya. The latter was confirmed in a bilateral meeting between General Comitini, accompanied by the Italian Ambassador Paola Imperiale, and the Inspector General of the National Police Service David Kimaiyo, during which further forms of cooperation between the Kenyan Police and the Italian Carabinieri were discussed.