Two military officers from the Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces (TPDF) were in Accra, Ghana, for a U.S. Department of Defense sponsored four-day workshop on Peacekeeping Operations Lessons-Learned from April 28 to May 1, 2008.

According to a U.S. Embassy statement, Lieutenant Colonel Kadaso, a staff officer at the TPDF Headquarters in Dar es Salaam, and Major Mwaipaya, a commanding officer, trained using U.S. Army methods on how to disseminate lessons learned from exercises, operations and training events with its units and organization across the Army.

The TPDF officers will especially benefit from lessons learned from Peacekeeping Operations (PKO), Peace Enforcement Operations (PEO), and Counter-Insurgency Operations. These operations relate to what is taking place in several African countries presently.

By conducting this workshop in Ghana, the U.S. Defense Department is demonstrating its long-standing assistance to its African partner nations. The workshop is also an example of the kinds of program that U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) will conduct when the headquarters becomes responsible for administrative coordination of ongoing U.S. military programs on the continent later this year. A goal of Africa Command is to enhance the capabilities of its African partner nations' standby forces.

Financial support for this workshop comes from the American people and is part of overall U.S. government direct and multilateral assistance to Tanzania of more than half a billion U.S. Dollars (over 750 billion Tanzanian shillings) in 2008. For further information on this and other activities, please see http://tanzania.usembassy.gov