US military preparing to train Uganda security forces

WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- The U.S.-based Center for Civil-Military Relations is preparing to train security forces in northern Uganda.

The Center for Civil-Military Relations will offer training programs on civil-military relations to the Ugandan army, police and civil society non-governmental organizations.

The Ugandan newspaper New Vision on Friday quoted Center for Civil-Military Relations African Program manager Col. Eugene Michael Mensh II as telling army representatives, police and civil society organizations at a seminar in the Ugandan capital Kampala that they intended to focus on local perceptions of civil-military in the country's northern districts

The center was founded at the U.S. Navy's Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 1994, and according to its website provides graduate level resident and nonresident education courses to foreign civilian and military participants.

According to the center, "Its programs assist foreign nations in resolving civil-military issues resulting from defense transformation, stability and support operations, combating terrorism, and other security challenges" by "strengthening democratic civil-military relationships and assisting other nations make integrated defense decisions."