DR Congo president in Arusha for special mission

The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Mr Joseph Kabila shall Saturday accompany his host, President Jakaya Kikwete at the Tanzania Military Academy in Monduli District to commission officers cadets of intake 54/13 DRC.

            DRC president Joseph Kabila

According to the Head of Tanzania Military Academy (TMA) Brigadier Paul Peter Massau, the day-long ceremony for officer cadets’ course commissioning takes place at the Academy’s Parade Square and is to be attended by the Commander- in-Chief of Defence Forces for Tanzania accompanied by the Democratic Republic of Congo president, as well as other distinguished guests.

President Kabila arrived in Arusha yesterday ready to grace the event at TMA. Apparently the intake 54/13 comprises of army officers entirely from DRC who were being groomed at the Monduli’s military academy.

This is the second batch of TMA intake 54/13 with the initial commissioning of the first batch comprising of 179 Tanzanian officer cadets having taken place last August when President Kikwete again awarded the graduates.

Based in Monduli TMA is Tanzania’s top military training institution where President Kikwete, after successfully completing a similar course, was commissioned there as a lieutenant in 1976.

The President also undertook the Company Commander’s Course in 1983 at the same academy, whereby in his military career, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

From 1984 to 1986, President Kikwete was Chief Political Instructor and Political Commissar at the Military Academy, where he retired from the military as a lieutenantcolonel when political pluralism was reintroduced to Tanzania in 1992, and when he chose to become a full time politician.

Before the establishment of TMA, Tanzania used to send its military personnel to be trained in Israel, India, Egypt, Sudan, Russia and in the United Kingdom but today the Mondulibased academy has grown to become the most respected and reliable military academy in the world, catering for officers from various countries and continents.

The historical background of the Academy dates way back to 1969, when the first Officer Cadet School (OCS) was established at Kurasini in Dar es Salaam before shifting base to Monduli, Arusha in September 1976.

In 1972, institution for party cadres was established in Monduli district, some 40 kilometres west of Arusha town and 8km south of the current TMA location.

The institution which went by the name “Party Cadres Military School (PCMS) was charged with the task of training middle and high ranking Party and Government functionaries with the aim of improving and strengthening their leadership, command qualities and articulations.

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