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Africa Moyo Deputy News Editor

A new era of cooperation between the Zimbabwe National Defence University and Palestine is on the cards in several fields, including military and security.

On Monday there were discussions between Palestinian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Tamer Almassri, and ZNDU Vice Chancellor Air Marshall Michael Moyo when the ambassador paid a courtesy call.

After the meeting, Ambassador Almassri told The Herald that the meeting was fruitful and will result in accelerated cooperation between ZNDU and Palestine.

“Chief among the discussions we had was the starting of a new era of cooperation in the field of military, security, science, scholarships and other areas of mutual interest between Zimbabwe and Palestine.

“ZNDU is one of the best universities in Africa which specialises in military and security studies.”

Ambassador Almassri, who has only been in Zimbabwe for a few months, is on a whirlwind tour since his arrival, meeting senior Government officials to discuss various areas of cooperation that could see Zimbabwe and Palestine deepening relations which date back to the days of the liberation struggle.

Already, the Ambassador has met Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, the media and now Air Marshall Moyo.

ZNDU was established after a soul searching exercise and environmental scanning process by senior Zimbabwe Defence Forces commanders.

It had become apparent that there was need to set up a joint military and civilian institution of higher learning to provide a platform for study and research by senior officers on defence and security issues.

Such training was meant to capacitate the officials to be able come up with appropriate response options to diverse national security threats.

The Zimbabwe national security dilemma had been made complex by the volatile global political and economic environment, which exerted negative forces on national sovereignty.

It was envisaged that a National Defence University would provide senior military officers, senior Government officials or civilians and their counterparts from friendly countries within SADC, with analytical and conceptual tools to formulate comprehensive national security policy. After a series of in-depth studies on the feasibility of establishing an indigenous national institution, the idea of a National Defence College was then crystallised.

A group of senior officers was then assigned to undertake study tours of the Pakistan National Defence University, the National Defence University of China, the Kenya National Defence College and many others across the world, to draw lessons on their establishment and operational experiences.