TOKYO, Japan, September 3, 2015/African Press Organization (APO)/ — 1. Japan will dispatch 11 trainers from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force to a trial training which will take place in Kenya from September 7th as part of the UN Project for Africa Rapid Deployment of Engineering Capabilities (ARDEC), which will be implemented by the UN Department of Field Support. This trial training aims to train personnel from East African troop contributing countries for the operation of heavy engineering equipment.
2. In recent UN PKOs, the lack of equipment such as heavy equipment and their operators has posed great difficulties in conducting humanitarian assistance activities and ensuring troop security. To overcome these challenges, Prime Minister Abe expressed a commitment to contribute to the rapid deployment of these equipment and personnel with engineering capabilities at the Summit Meeting on UN PKOs held last September.
3. Following Prime Minister Abe’s commitment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan decided to provide financial contribution to the UN for the purchase of heavy equipment and the implementation of training. The Ministry of Defense also decided to dispatch trainers in order to support the trial training.
4. Furthermore, lessons learned in this trial training will be applied to the detailed plan of the full-scale training which will begin next year.
【Reference】Outline of the trial training
Period of training：September 7th – October 16th, 2015
Location of training：Nairobi (Kenya International Peace Support Training Centre)
Instructors：11 personnel led by Major Michiaki Okazaki
Trainees：East African countries dispatching Engineer Units to UN PKOs
Contents of the training：The operation and maintenance of heavy equipment
