The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government Chief Whip, Hamson Obua has emphasized the need for military personal to understand the cultures of the people in communities where they are deployed.
The Minister is of the view that if men and women in uniform understand the cultures and values of the communities, then then car serve them betters.
Obua was on Sunday presiding over the opening of a cultural gala at the Senior Command and Staff College, Kimaka. Obua noted that a society without a culture is like a water vessel without a campus.
The gala draw officers from the nine countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Malawi and South Africa.
The officer jointly pieced up artifices about some the most underrated cultural aspects, which are key in peace and unity promotions across Africa and the entire world.
The military officers from the participating countries conducted research studies on the different ancient cultural practices, which used to be active peace and security enablers across Africa.
The importance of cultural understanding of military operations has of recent been emphasized in the militaries around the world. It has more especially been emphasized right from the September 11th 2001 terror attacks in the US. It is being noted that understanding the culture and values where the military is being deployed can play a big role in devising means of countering insurgency.
Obua said when military personnel holistically understand the role of culture in the general governance of society, their approaches to end conflicts will be people centered and widely supported to derive local solutions to local problems.
He said cross cultural interactions between forces of different countries across the African continent s is likely to foster peace efforts, where military officers are tipped on how to easily partner with civil communities, to jointly draft workable conflict resolution mechanisms.
He also says that, enriching military training curriculum with cultural aspects can be a key driver in fostering cosmopolitan joint operations between forces of different countries, for the common good and wider benefit of ensuring security within the civil population.
Obua further said that prioritizing cultural aspects in the training of senior military officers, is fundamental and universally redefines their international ratings, since the success of any military operation can never be fully actualized without the support of the civil population.
Some of the military officers attending the course come from country that have been involved in UN peace operations among others. The course comes at a time some of the African countries are facing military coups.
At the same time, some members of the military have been accused of being highhanded in their operations including abuse of human rights.
The commandant of Senior Command College, Major General, George Igumba said this year’s cultural gala has been held under the theme of, “Harnessing African unity and security, through promotion of our rich cultural diversity for a common destiny,” with an aim of reminding the officers to actuate the significance of culture in peace drives across Africa and globally.
The military students observed that, most of the security concerns across the world result from scramble for resources, supremacy and boarder disputes, therefore, their research entailed inculcating ancient cultural practices, within the widely profound modern security standards, in a bid to foster harmonious dispute handling, social-economic security, food and water safety, among others.
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