UK Government assists military resettlement programs as a confidence building instrument (18/06/2009)
Retraining and resettlement of uniformed personnel as an instrument of building confidence and trust between the two banks of the Nistru river has been the focus of today’s workshop, organized by the UK Embassy to Moldova and the British Department for International Development.
“Excessive numbers of people of uniform – which are probably not justified by the situation on the ground - is an important obstacle towards building trust between the two banks and moving forward with the political solution of the Transnistrian conflict,” emphasized the Deputy Head of the UK Embassy to Moldova John Mitchell at the opening of the seminar.
Retraining and resettlement programs for members of the uniformed services (military/security and law enforcement personnel) into civil society are an important part of any confidence and security building measures. “Resettlement always needs to be planned ahead but is often neglected or dealt with on an ad-hoc basis, which can cause problems many years down the road,” underlined Major General John Drewienkiewicz, an expert who conducted the workshop.
A comprehensive resettlement program, which would involve retraining the military and the law-enforcement/security personnel, could be of much benefit and interest for both banks and could become highly relevant both now and in the future.
The workshop is part of a UK Embassy project which is aimed at enhancing the strategic and analytic capacity of the Ministry for Reintegration.
The workshop has been conducted by two recognized UK experts, Major General John Drewienkiewicz and Colonel Richard Ciaglinski, who have wide experience in drafting and implementing resettlement and retraining programs in many countries and on many continents.
