Annual Civilian National Focal Points' Workshop in Seychelles Ends

The Civilian Component of the Eastern Africa Standby Force held its annual National Focal Point Workshop in Mahe, Seychelles from 20th to 22nd February 2017.

The Workshop was officially opened by Amb. Claude Morel of the Department of Foreign Affairs of

the Republic of Seychelles. The Amb. was accompanied by the Minister for Home Affairs, Deputy Chief of the Seychelles Peoples' Defence Forces (SPDF) and the Commissioner of Police.

The aim of the workshop was to deliberate on ways of supporting EASF to deliver on one of its mandates, which is to roster and train civilian experts in Peace Support Operations (PSOs) in accordance with the recently laid down African Union (AU) guidelines. The workshop also served as an information sharing forum between the EASF Civilian Component and it's National Focal Points on progress made since the previous workshop held in Bujumbura, Burundi in September 2016. Discussions on implementing the now approved 2017 Activity Plan were also held.

The workshop was followed by a two day roster verification exercise which was conducted by EASF Staff. This exercise's purpose was to evaluate capacities of civilians from Seychelles who have been trained in PSOs through face to face interviews with the aim of determining the most appropriate fields these civilians could be deployed in, should need arise at any time in the future.

The workshop was attended by representatives from all 10 EASF Member States i.e., Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

Photo Gallery of the Civilian Focal Points' Workshop in Seychelles