China pledges more military support to MDF

Chinese ambassador Pan Hejun says his government is committed to assisting the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) in building its capacity to enable it meet its constitutional obligation of maintaining security in the country.

Pan made the commitment during the graduation of MDF officers and soldiers in various construction engineering courses at Engineers Battalion in Kasungu on Wednesday.

One hundred and seventy two officers graduated in the one-year courses, which were facilitated by military officers from the Chinese Liberation Army.

“Since we established diplomatic relations with Malawi six year ago, our relationship has continued to grow resulting into technical assistance cooperation in health, education and infrastructure development.

“We donated engineering equipment to MDF to assist the institution contribute to the social-economic development of the country. It was not enough to supply construction machinery, hence the equipment of officers and soldiers with construction engineering knowledge,” said Pan.

He said some MDF officers are currently in China pursuing studies in engineering and other courses.

MDF commander Henry Odillo said the knowledge acquired by the army officers was critical for the country’s development.

“This is a step in the right direction as it will enhance one of our constitutional obligations which is to provide technical expertise and resource to assist the civilian authorities’ in the maintaining essential services in times of emergency. It will also help MDF in peace keeping missions,” said Odillo.

The courses covered included engineering survey, road engineering, architectural drawing and designing utility construction vehicle driving operations, and plants operation and maintenance.