Over two hundred and eight soldiers from all the units of The Gambia Armed Forces on Tuesday completed one-month training on pre-deployment training to Darfur, as part of peace-keeping under the United Nations African High big mission in Darfur. The official closing ceremony, which was held at the Fajara Military Training School, was attended by senior military officials from the Ministry of Defense, senior government officials, as well as the British High Commission, David Morley.
Speaking in an interview with The Point shortly after the official ceremony, Captain Omar Saidykhan, the acting Commander of The Gambia Armed Forces Training School said the pre-deployment training to Darfur is a norm every time a contingent is about to rotate to Darfur for a peace-keeping mission under the United Nations African High big mission in Darfur. “We normally do a peace support operation, pre-deployment training in order to refresh the memories, to refresh the physical abilities and also the military tactics, especially for those who supposed to go and do the job there.
The acting Commander at the Gambia Armed Forces Training School further explained that they have 208 soldiers going to Darfur from across all units of The Gambia Armed Forces, all of whom underwent the training for possible deployment to Darfur. These, he said, included Gamcoy 16, adding that Gamcoy 15 is currently in Darfur for six months rotations. He then noted that the current one is contingent 16 of The Gambia Armed Forces.
“This time around our own instructors took the leading role to instructing them on the ground. The Gambia Armed Forces have this relationship with the British Royal Regiment that provides like under the British Military Advisory Training Team they task the Royal Regiment for providing peace support operation for this pre-deployment training to Darfur,” he stated.
While noting that the training normally lasts a month because the monitors from the Royal Regiment had very tight schedule, he said, preparations for Mali would kick-start soon, as he commended the Royal Regiment Advisory Training Team for the support.
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