The Military Academy hosted the 7th South African-Netherlands International Security Course
over period 1 – 12 June 2015. Apart from becoming an annual event, the course attracts increasing attention from the African continent. Members from the Centre for Military Studies (CEMIS) at the South African Military Academy and members from the Netherlands Defence Academy co-hosted and organised the event. Due to major renovations at the Military Academy, the course was presented at Air Force Base Langebaanweg.
The aim of this course is to provide young officers with a proper appreciation of international relations and to develop skills necessary for forming and developing opinions on the matter. Participants received a number of presentations during the course and also had ample opportunity to participate in discussions and make presentations on different subjects. The approach were therefore twofold: to provide relevant information on international relations and security, and to stimulate debate and independent thought on the subject.
The course content are intended to address the needs of junior officers serving on peacekeeping or other complex missions. The course also equips attendees with a broader understanding of a geo-political environment in which current missions are undertaken as well as provide knowledge transfer on human rights, the law of armed conflict, the role of gender in conflict and peace and lessons learnt from specific case studies. Due to repeated student requests and the range of the content of the presentations, the course duration was extended to two weeks.
This year the students were officers from the South African Defence Force, as well as officers from the defence forces of Botswana, Mali, Mozambique and Zambia. The course was presented by lecturers from CEMIS (SA Military Academy), the Netherlands Defence Academy, Transparency International and from the ICSC.
Also a first for the course was the visit by the GOC Training Command, Major General Andries de Wit on 5 June 2015, accompanied by the Commandant of the Military Academy, Brigadier General Lawrence Mbatha. It was really appreciated by the members and the overall feedback from the attendees on course was again very positive.
