Stephen Wandera
21 May 2011
Bujumbura city will host this year’s edition of the East African Military Games and Culture Week from 14 to 28 August 2011.
Hundreds of service men and women representing the various services of the Defence Forces of the EAC partner states are expected to take part in the event that the Republic of Burundi hosts for the first time.
A variety of sporting disciplines have been lined up including; handball (men), football (men), netball (women), cross-country (men and women) and basketball (men) as well as various cultural events reflecting life in the EAC.
Partner States’ Ministers of Defence, Chiefs of Defence Forces and other distinguished guests are expected to attend.
Alongside the sports event the EAC Defence Sector will also be celebrating 10 years of cooperation which will climax in November 2011 with the theme “One People, One Destiny: Yet Another Decade for Deeper EAC Defence Cooperation”.
According to a press release from African Press Organisation, the event organising committee and the hosts have made good progress in the preparations for the event and various venues to host the different sporting disciplines have been identified within Bujumbura city.
Entry will be free of charge. The primary objective of the Military Sports and Culture Week is not competition but to contribute to confidence building and nurturing good spirit and working relations among the EAC Defence Forces to appreciate their diverse cultures. The East African Military Sports and Culture Week has been held on a rotational basis since 2005 when the first edition was held in Kampala, Uganda. Other editions of the games have since been held in Nairobi/Kenya (2006), Zanzibar/Tanzania (May 2007), Kampala (June 2008) and Kigali, Rwanda (2009).
The Sports and Culture Week is held within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Defence Matters, which was signed in 1998 and revised in 2001. The MoU has specific provisions for Sports and Cultural co-operation as well as JointMilitary Exercises, among the EAC Defence Forcesbo.
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