Delegates from the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C34) paid a visit to the Regional Service Centre Entebbe (RSCE) and the United Nations Support Base in Entebbe (UNESB). The delegates visited the UN operations in Entebbe to understand and learn more about the UN support to peace operations in Africa.

C34 is one of the General Assembly's tools for overseeing peacekeeping operations authorized by the Security Council. Established in 1965, the committee consists of 147 Member States involved in peacekeeping missions and observing members such as the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

The delegates were welcomed by the Chief of RSCE, Mr. Paulin Djomo, who briefed them about the most critical operations that the centre provides to the UN.

 “At the RSCE, we process transactions for all UN peace operations and small political offices in Africa, accounting for 77% of all UN field operations worldwide. On a monthly basis, the centre processes 55,000 transactions, and handles an average of 200 travel requests daily for UN personnel” said Mr. Djomo in his briefing to the delegates.

The briefing provided by Mr. Djomo solicited a lot of interest among the delegates, who were impressed to learn about the support, efficiencies and standardisation of RSCE service provision to its Client Entities.

The Delegate of Uruguay thanked the RSCE for the briefing and indicated that Uruguay has only received excellent and positive feedback about the support RSCE provides to Uruguayan uniform personnel in the UN Mission in the DRC – MONUSCO.

During one of the earlier visits to the RSCE, The Government of Canada was impressed by Entebbe’s regional approach to the UN operations with efficiencies and synergies that it creates. They have therefore decided to provide additional logistical support to the UN, and have as of June 2019, deployed a C130 Aircraft to Entebbe initially in support of MONUSCO and UNMISS and the support will be extended once agreements are in place for other operations on the continent.

Following the visit to the RSCE, the C34 delegates were met by the UNESB Head of Premises. Mr. Amadu Timbilla who provided a briefing on MONUSCO logistic base operations in support of the Mission and all other entities stationed in the base. The group visited the Transit Camp for Peacekeeping troops, the security operational Centre and the Modular Command Center

The C34 Committee continues their field visit to the UNOAU in Addis Ababa and MINUSMA in Mali.