Cairo, Egypt - Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, officially opened the twenty-first session of the United Nations Senior Mission Leaders (UNSML) training course in Cairo today. The course, which is the UN’s most important and prestigious training course in the area of peacekeeping, is being organized by the Cairo Center for Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa (CCCPA) of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and conducted jointly with the Integrated Training Service of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations and Department of Field Support.

In his opening remarks, Minister Shoukry renewed Egypt’s commitment to the guiding purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter and to peaceful resolution of conflicts, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Shoukry also confirmed Egypt’s commitment to consequential leadership - as a credible voice of Africa, the Arab world and the global South - during its prospective membership of the United Nations Security Council (2016-2017).

The aim of the UNSML is to identify and prepare potential and current senior mission leaders to undertake the responsibilities of senior leaders in peacekeeping operations. This session brings together 27 civilian, military and police personnel from 15 Member States of the United Nations and United Nations personnel. This is the first time the course is being held in North Africa and the second time in the Middle East. The course, which will last for ten days, is generously supported by the Governments of Egypt and Japan. “This is a new milestone in our close and growing cooperation with Japan,” said Shoukry.

The hosting of this session of the UNSML comes within the context of Egypt’s continuous support of global peacekeeping efforts. Egypt has consistently been among the top contributors to peacekeeping operations in the world, with its first contribution to peacekeeping missions in the Congo back in 1960. Since then, Egypt has contributed to 37 UN missions with over 30,000 peacekeepers deployed in 24 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. As of 2015, Egypt ranks 11th among the world’s top troop-contributing countries, with a total contribution of more than 2,400 personnel deployed to eight UN peacekeeping missions.

CCCPA is an African Union training Center of Excellence, established in 1994. The Center aims to provide “African solutions for African problems” by conducting training courses and workshops to build African capacities in areas pertaining to its thematic focus, namely: peacekeeping and peacebuilding, border issues and crisis management, and countering violent extremism. Since 2014, CCCPA has trained 1,761 Egyptian peacekeepers deployed to peacekeeping missions in the DR Congo, Darfur, Mali and the Central African Republic. Last year it hosted the MENA consultations of the High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations, the recommendations of which are soon to be presented to the Secretary General of the United Nations.