UNIOGBIS trains presidential security team on advanced close protection

16 Jul 2015

UNIOGBIS trains presidential security team on advanced close protection

15 July 2015 - UNIOGBIS through its Rule of Law and Security Institutions (ROLSI), Police Reform Section, concluded today in Bissau, a four-week training for instructors of the presidential security team.

The course covered various domains, including General Concepts of Protection, Objective and Subjective Security, Custody and Human Rights, Legal Authority, Use of Force continuum, Code of Ethics, Protective Formations, Defensive Tactics, and Search Techniques, as well as practical exercise scenarios.

The course was delivered by UNPOL instructors, UNIOGBIS Security and national instructors on VIP Protection and attended by twenty-six (26) national participants, including two (2) female officers, as well as two (2) UN staff members. Everybody was satisfied.

 “This training was a success, all participants managed to learn a lot to improve. They can now work better”, said the Deputy Head of Human resources of the Office of the President, Sana Mendes Lelo,

For Fatumata Djallo, one of the trainees this was the first training she received since she was transferred from traffic police to the President’s close protection team one year ago. “This has been very important for me, I enjoyed everything. Now I have more knowledge to do my job properly”, she added.

Giscard Domingos da Silva, another trainee stated with conviction: “I am very happy with this training; I hope this is not the last training we receive. We need more so that we can better protect our president”.

This training was requested in September 2014 by the Chief of Civil Affairs of the President of the Republic to UNIOGBIS in order to support the Presidential Security Team with basic Close Protection training, as well as to assist with an assessment of the security at the Presidential Palace compound.

In its last 2203 Resolution (February 2015) on Guinea-Bissau, the Security Council requested UNIOGBIS to focus in particular on a number of priorities, including to provide support to the Government of Guinea-Bissau in strengthening democratic institutions and enhancing the capacity of state organs to function effectively and constitutionally.