A two-week southern Africa regional military communications exercise wrapped up in Botswana with the conclusion it would be of value to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Standby Force.
Ten of the regional bloc’s 16 member countries participated in Exercise Dipuisano (which translates as “disclosure”) with exercise director Brigadier-General Joseph Mathambo rating it a success.
Dr Kondwani Chirambo, SADC Co-ordinator of the Peace and Security Programme in the Directorate of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Affairs, told the exercise participants during a closing ceremony on 4 August they demonstrated “unwavering commitment and contribution to regional efforts aimed at strengthening the operational capacity of the SADC Standby Force.”
One of Dipuisano’s objectives was to heighten conflict resolution capability for the SADC region and the African continent. “This speaks to partial fulfilment of Aspiration Four of the African Union Agenda 2063 –that aspires for a peaceful and secure Africa,” according to Professor Kula Ishmael Theletsane, Director, Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Affairs at SADC Secretariat.
Exercise Dipuisano drew over four hundred participants from ten Southern African Development Community Member States (Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and Malawi).
The main objective of Exercise Dipuisano has been to enhance communication interoperability in SADC missions and exercise the SADC Standby Force Communication Capability, in response to security issues faced by the region and the continent as a whole. Exercises like Dipuisano prepare the Standby Force to fulfil its Rapid Deployment Capability (RDC) role in peace support operations.
