07 Jul 2013

Military officers have been urged to apply what they have learnt from the nine week Southern African Development Community (SADC) Defence Intelligence course.

Speaking at the official closing of the course, the Acting Chief of Staff Planning Element who is also senior staff officer responsible for operations in the SADC region, Colonel Lukwikila Metikwiza said the training came at a time when the region was experiencing some planned cybercrime and the escalating cross border crime.

Therefore colonel Metikwiza hoped that the trained officers would help fight such crimes in their countries and counter any intelligence risks.

Col Metikwiza said trained officers should be able to identify the regional security threats and give early warning, demonstrate a clear understanding of the UN and AU peace Support Operations and be able to produce a comprehensive and workable intelligence estimate at tactical and operational levels in support of SADC forces.

The course director Lt Col Kenamile Badubi said the SADC Defence Intelligence Course is the premier defence intelligence for SADC member states designed to equip officers with the skills to plan, direct and execute intelligence tasks during the peace support operations within the SADC context.

He said the course was to be held on rotational basis among member states, Botswana hosted the fifth edition of the course, and it has been not running for the past seven years and  hoped that it would continue as planned.

Lt Col Badubi said the aim of the course was to train the SADC defence intelligence selected officers in the conduct of intelligence in order to achieve standardization and enhance inter-operability during joint operations in peace support operations, which also include humanitarian relief operations within the SADC.

He said the course was conducted as per the SADC Defence Intelligence Training Doctrine and the Troika system has been adapted for the course as per the Doctrine.

He said the courses material included the intelligence estimate, Regional security strategy formulation and assessment, and the conduct of intelligence in support of peace support operations during joint deployment.

The course was attended by 27 military officers from 10 SADC member states. ENDS