The Principal Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Simon Munzu, on 8 January 2015, officially opened the security training centre of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI).



Speaking on the occasion, the Mission's deputy chief said that the main objective of the centre is to continue to enhance the skills of security personnel working with UNOCI and the United Nations agencies.



« The task of this centre is not only to serve UNOCI personnel but also the personnel of UN agencies in Africa, namely military, police and civilians, » said Mr. Munzu.



For his part, the Chief Security Adviser for UNOCI and the UN agencies in Côte d'Ivoire, Roxy Pango, said that security work was essentially technical and therefore required permanent training.



«Security officers who use weapons must be highly qualified. The opening of this centre will contribute to ensuring that security officers receive the level of training required in order to to carry out their work properly. In the past we were obliged to use the training centres of our partners, » he explained.



«Now we will be in charge of our training timetable and the type of training we provide for our security officers, » said Mr. Pango.



He also said that the opening of the centre will provide the opportunity for security personnel of UN agencies frommdifferent parts of Africa to receive the same level of training specific to the United Nations.



The centre will offer specialist advice and provide the opportunity for more security officers to be trained at a lower cost.



The first training session which will regroup security officers from several countries is due to start from 12 January 2015.