The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in cooperation with the National Authority of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, began a new training course last week dealing with potential transfers of chemical weapons in certain areas.
The initiative focuses on subregional training courses for customs officers from East and Southern African states on the technical aspects of the transfers regime of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The course was held in collaboration with the World Customs Organization (WCO) and was attended by 37 participants from 14 state parties. Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda all had representatives present at the training course.
The course was designed with the WCO and was comprised of a mix of presentations, practical exercises and group discussions. Officials were trained in the detection and identification of scheduled chemicals. Additionally, discussions were held regarding chemical trade control practices as well as the examination of imports and exports.
The course was made to support subregional cooperation between customs of the represented state parties that, in turn, would contribute to the effective implementation of the chemical weapons convention.