Norwegian support to UNMIS election security training for SSPS police

Under an UNMIS scheme, these new SSPS trainers will cascade out to South Sudan regions in March to train a greater number of SSPS officers in election security before the April elections. This way they will contribute to increasing the large number of SSPS officers that UNMIS has already provided election security training for. The SSPS instructors may also be of use for similar tasks before the 2011 referendum.

The course was based on UNMIS’ three day election security training curriculum, plus two extra days of field relevant exercises. Three groups of 40 pre-selected police officers went through three consecutive five day courses in Nairobi in February. A Norwegian National Police Directorate “Training Assistance Team” assisted the UNMIS instructors.

Qualified candidates were pre-selected by the UNMIS Police Commissioner and SSPS. Particularly skilled SSPS officers were identified already in the first week of training, and could join the UNMIS instructor team in the following weeks, with success. This adds to the capacity building value of the training effort, and is in line with Norwegian priorities.

It was in late in 2009 that UN Assistant Secretary General Titov formally requested that Norway make use of its capacity building experience under the Training for Peace programme (TfP) to support the latter stages of UNMIS election security training for SSPS, with a “training of trainers” approach. The Minister of Internal Affairs of the Government of South Sudan actively supported the request. The Norwegian Foreign Service, EASBRICOM and the Humanitarian Peace Support School in Nairobi facilitated the practical aspects.

UN peace keeping missions are increasingly being involved in capacity building efforts for host nation security structures, as a means to bridge the gap between peace keeping and peace building in conflict areas. In supporting such efforts in the Sudan and elsewhere, Norway believes close coordination with the UN and strong local ownership is key to success. It was through a creative and well coordinated approach by all those involved that this particular capacity building effort for the SSPS was made possible in such a short time.