The ACCRA Daily Mail - vendredi 28 mai 2004
ECOWAS and UN commend France... for making RECAMP a
success
By Atiku Iddrisu
The ECOWAS Executive Secretary for Political Affairs General Diarra
has expressed gratitude to the Government of France for coming out
with the RECAMP initiative, aimed at preventing crisis and allowing
African regional organizations arrange sufficient military
capabilities to conceive and lead peacekeeping operations on their
continent.
He said the RECAMP exercise has answered many of ECOWAS questions on
problems encountered during the intervention of crisis, citing
"experiences" in Sierra Leone, Liberia and La Cote d'Ivoire.
General Diarra made the remarks yesterday at the end of the
political and diplomatic part of the ongoing RECAMP IV at the Kofi
Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra. He said
ECOWAS will take into account all the recommendations and suggestions
made at the RECAMP seminar "for future interventions".
The Deputy Military Advisor of the UN Department of Peacekeeping
Operations (UNDPKO) Brigadier-General M. Kandji said the UN attaches
great importance of the RECAMP exercise, as it benefits the UN
peacekeeping capacity "which heavily relies on Africa's massive and
valuable contributions". He said African regional peacekeeping
operations are crucial in complementing the UN's role, particularly
in crises where the UN is not in a position to deploy rapidly enough,
as it was in the case in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire recently.
"The United Nations therefore stands ready to continue to work
together with other international donors and partners to help Africa
further develop its capacity" he said.
He expressed gratitude to the Government of Ghana and France for
hosting and organising the seminar respectively, and also the ECOWAS
Secretariat for their "generous support".
At the end of the political and diplomatic part of the seminar the
participants got the opportunity to exchange different ideas
reflecting on their participation in peacekeeping operations.
They debated on different topics under crisis management and
prevention, including the disarmament of ex-combatants and
consolidation of state.
The second and concluding part of the five-day seminar (the military
aspect) begins today. It will involve senior military personnel and
other stakeholders. They would be planning an imaginary operation
which will be used as a base for the field training exercise (FTX)
scheduled for Benin from November 29th to December 11th,2004.