By Abigail Chaponda in London, United Kingdom
Zambia has been requested to provide more troops for the UN operations. This is in recognition for the country’s proficiency based on its previous contributions to UN Peace keeping Missions.
Zambia was last year ranked top in quality of peace keeping troops in its missions by the United Nations. The country scored 90 per cent in competence based on its contributions to UN peace keeping operations.
In an interview after making a presentation on the current and planned mechanised capability of the Zambia Defence Force at the 20th annual International Armoured vehicle conference held at Twickenham Stadium in the United Kingdom, Brigadier General Mudas Musukwa, Brigade Commander Armoured Brigade, Zambia Army said the British Department of Defence team is expected in Zambia to train more troops preparing to go for the UN Peace Keeping Operations.
And during the presentation, Brigadier General Musukwa said, Zambia has decided to modernise the Defence force for it to be relevant in the era of dynamic security environment.
Brigadier General Musukwa said in order to meet the demands of new threats, the Zambia Army is in the process of realigning and reorganising its forces as it also looks at revisiting its policy.
He said government has continued to support the modernisation agenda by ensuring that the Defence Force acquires new equipment.
He told the conference that although the security environment in SADC and Zambia in particular is not yet volatile, the status quo in the security environment cannot be taken for granted.
Brigadier General Musukwa said Zambia Army Command desires to see a professional, modern and versatile army capable of preserving national and International peace and security by 2025, saying this will enable the Army to carry out its mission to preserve the sovereignty and defend the territorial integrity of Zambia and contribute to the maintenance of the world peace.
