First batch of Chadian police and gendarmerie graduate from UN training course

The first 71 Chadian police and gendarmerie commanders graduated today from a United Nations programme aimed at ensuring the safety and security of an estimated 250,000 refugees and 180,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in the east of the country.

The commanders – who will form part of a new unit known as the Détachement Integré de Sécurité (DIS) – took part in a graduation ceremony today after completing more than six weeks of training in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena.

The group received training from staff with the nascent UN mission in Chad and Central African Republic (MINURCAT) in law and order, respect for human rights, humanitarian law and other policing techniques.

In a speech at the ceremony, Victor Angelo, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, said the training system was part of an integrated security system that is new to UN peacekeeping.

Under the Security Council resolution which established MINURCAT last year, the mission is tasked with selecting, training, advising and facilitating support to the DIS, which is mandated to provide security inside the 12 refugee camps, many IDP sites and nearby towns in eastern Chad.

By October, MINURCAT expects that 850 DIS personnel will have been trained in four batches, completing the total number required for the unit.

The mission was created last September to help protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to thousands of people uprooted by insecurity in the northeast of the CAR and eastern Chad and in the neighbouring Darfur region of western Sudan.