Rwanda, Lebanon attend Egypt’s ‘Bright Star’ drill as observers
A member of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command observes members of the Niger Armed Forces during marksmanship training as part of Flintlock 2017, in Diffa, Niger, March 1, 2017. Flintlock is a special operations forces exercise designed to hone the capabilities of U.S. and partner nation military units in Trans-Saharan Africa. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Zayid Ballesteros)
A team from Rwanda is attending the Egyptian-US joint military exercise known as the “Bright Star” at a military base in Alexandria, Egyptian media reported.
The military exercises include land, naval and air forces from Egypt, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Rwanda, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, South Africa, Senegal, and Canada will observe the drills.
Designed to strengthen military and security cooperation among the participating countries, the drills will help participating countries in developing their operational and training methods in counter-terrorism and non-conventional warfare.
Moreover, the exercises will also train the participating nations in medical evacuation, anti-mining operations and the latest methods of countering threats to maritime security, and develop expertise in planning and implementing joint aerial operations.
General Hisham Al-Halabi who is a military advisor at the Nasser Military Academy said, “We are looking at manoeuvres that began big and strong and which have continued to grow in terms of the numbers of participants, the types of training exercise and the kinds of arms and training programmes used.”
He added, “Egypt has equipped the Mohamed Naguib Base with state-of-the-art facilities. It has outstanding capacities for coordinating between and hosting a large number of participants from different branches of other countries’ military forces.”
The military exercises will continue till September 20.
