The course includes United Nations pre-deployment training modules on operational and logistical planning, humanitarian operations, and various blackboard and table top exercises
WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, May 14, 2018,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/-
EVENT:
Please join us on Wednesday, May 16 at 13:30 GMT / 15:30 SAST / 16:30 EAT / 9:30 AM EDT for a telephonic press conference with PM Bureau official Michael Smith, who will discuss the third annual UN Peacekeeping Course for African Partners (UNPCAP III), which is currently being held in New Delhi, India from May 7-25. UNPCAP III is a joint U.S.-India initiative to build and enhance the capacity of the African troop and police contributing countries to participate in UN and regional peacekeeping operations.
BACKGROUND:
This third UN Peacekeeping Course for African Partners (UNPCAP III) will train 41 peacekeepers from 17 African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia) at the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in India (CUNPK).
The training is being conducted jointly by U.S. and Indian instructors on a ‘train the trainers’ model, so that course graduates can return home to train future peacekeepers from their own countries. All course participants have prior peacekeeping experience to help facilitate the seminar-style format of the course and encourage the exchange of ideas and experiences by both the instructors and participants.
UNPCAP III is the first iteration of the course to include simultaneous interpretation in French, and over 50 percent of participants are from Francophone countries. The course includes UN pre-deployment training modules on operational and logistical planning, humanitarian operations, and various blackboard and table top exercises. The course also emphasizes a growing push to institutionalize a culture of performance teach commanders to evaluate the performance of units under their command. Two African officers who are alumni from prior iterations of the course will also be part of the team of instructors.
DETAILS:
Speakers: Michael L. Smith, Office Director of the Office of Global Plans and Initiatives, Bureau of Political Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State, and
Colonel Brian R. Foster, Peace Operations Division Chief at the US Army War College’s Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute
Date: May 16, 2018
Time: 13:30 GMT / 15:30 SAST / 16:30 EAT / 9:30 AM EDT
* Please use Time Zone Converter to determine the start time of the event in your time zone.
Ground Rules:On the record.
Dial-in Info: To be provided once you RSVP
RSVP: RSVP to afmediahub@state.gov
Please indicate if you will dial in (specify English/French/Portuguese line), or request that we dial out to you (provide the phone number and language to be used).
BIO:
Michael L. Smith, Office Director of the Office of Global Plans and Initiatives, Bureau of Political Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
Michael (Mike) L. Smith is the Director of the PM Bureau’s Office of Global Plans and Initiatives (PM/GPI), where he leads the U.S. government’s Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) and the African Peacekeeping Rapid Response Partnership (APRRP). These programs are designed to increase the number of capable military troops and formed police units available and ready for deployment to effectively conduct United Nations and regional organizations’ peace operations. A former U.S. Army Colonel, Michael graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1975 and served in the U.S. military for 24 years. Since 2005 he has successively served the Deputy Program Director and Program Director of GPOI, and now as the GPI Office Director.
Colonel Brian R. Foster, Peace Operations Division Chief at the US Army War College’s Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute
[Foster Brian] Colonel Brian R. Foster is a native of High Point, North Carolina, commissioned as a Distinguished Military Graduate in Military Intelligence through the ROTC program at Appalachian State University in 1990. He currently serves as the Peace Operations Division Chief at the US Army War College’s Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI)
Colonel Foster served in a variety of assignments to include Platoon Leader, Battalion S2, Company Commander, Senior Analyst, Analysis Chief, Exercise Lead Planner, Nuclear Strike Advisor, Intelligence Fusion Cell Chief, Executive Officer, AFPAK Team Chief in the International Military Staff at NATO HQ in Brussels and most recently as the ACOS J2 and US Senior National Representative at the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps in Milan, Italy.
Colonel Foster has served overseas for 18 years (16 in Europe) working in or supporting multinational missions in: Fulda, Germany; Doha, Kuwait; Naples, Italy; Pristina, Kosovo; Joint Analysis Center (JAC) Molesworth, UK; Seoul, South Korea; Brussels, Belgium; and Milan, Italy. He has served or supported multiple US four-star strategic commands over the past several years such as European Command, Strategic Command, and the United States Forces Korea. He has also served at the Strategic, Operational and Tactical levels of NATO; serving on the International Military Staff (IMS) at NATO, AFSOUTH in Naples and then at a NATO Rapid Deployable Corps in Milan. He supported KFOR and UNMIK in 2003, deployed to Pristina as the US National Intelligence Cell Deputy Commander.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Africa Regional Media Hub.
