Addis Abeba, November 01/2019: The United States Government, through the US Department of Defense (DoD) – Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) International Counterproliferation Program (ICP), in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Regional Security Office (RSO), and the Office of Security Cooperation (OSC) provided the first of its kind training on counterproliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), WMD detection, interdiction and investigation training to build measurable and lasting capacity of partner nations’ law enforcement agencies from October 28 to November 01, 2019, a statement from the US Embassy said.
Twenty-eight experts from the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), Federal Police Commission (FPC), Immigration Nationality and Vital Events Agency (INVEA), Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA), Ethiopian Customs Commission, Ethiopian Radiation Protection Authority (ERPA), and the Addis Abeba City Administration Fire and Disaster and Risk Management Commission participated in the ICP training.
“The participants gained an understanding of the importance of international and interagency cooperation on proliferation issues such as dual-use materials and equipment, the role of export control regimes, border security and terrorism, and increased their awareness on how these topics relate to Ethiopia,” the statement said.
At the opening ceremony, James Markley, the U.S. Embassy Addis Abeba Legal Attaché, recognized the importance of the U.S. – Ethiopia partnership, acknowledged the hard work of the trainees and thanked them for their ongoing service to create a stable Ethiopia and Horn of Africa. He also expressed the importance for Ethiopia to develop an organic WMD capacity to include detection, interdiction, and investigation.
“After reforms by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia is playing a great role in creating stability in the Horn of Africa,” the statement further said, adding that the US Department of Defense is helping to strengthen Ethiopia’s capacity in the fight against terrorism and in countering the proliferation of WMD. Dispatch/AS
