NAIROBI, 3 September 2009 (IRIN) - At least 1,556 East African Community (EAC) military personnel are participating in a three-week joint field training exercise codenamed Ex–Mlima Kilimanjaro (Mount Kilimanjaro) 2009 in Arusha and Tanga, Tanzania, to share knowledge on the regional challenges in peace support, counter-terrorism and disaster management.

The EAC personnel, comprising representatives from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, will also provide medical, veterinary and infrastructure rehabilitation services to neighbouring communities.

The exercise is being conducted under the EAC Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation in Defence Matters, which also provides for EAC partner states' armies to offer mutual assistance in disaster management and technical co-operation. The MOU is set to be upgraded into a Protocol.

Three other joint, mainly command post, military exercises were held in 2005; Ex-Ongoza Njia (lead the way) on peace support operations and Ex-Trend Marker on counter-terrorism, and another in 2006, the Ex-Hot Springs, on disaster management. Kenya and Uganda have in the past held joint exercises to address the cattle-rustling problem in the West Pokot and Karamoja border areas.

This exercise is the first to be fully funded by the EAC states.

Future joint military training will involve more elaborate field exercises and battle simulations with larger numbers of personnel and military hardware, says EAC.

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