The CHRONICLE - mardi 25 mai 2004
French Gov't commended ... or efforts at Africa's security
THE DEPUTY MINISTER of Foreign Affairs, Mr Akwesi Osei Agyei, has commended the French government for its efforts at strengthening African national security systems at the sub-regional level, to make them capable of preventing and handling crises, and to arrange sufficient military capability immediately, without having to wait for the traditional United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Making these remarks at the opening of three-day political-military
seminar at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre (KAIPTC)
under the theme : strengthening Of African Peacekeeping Capabilities
organized by the French government for ECOWAS countries, under the
Acronym RECAMP 4, the minister explained that the programme was the
French government's package for the reinforcement of African
peacekeeping capabilities in order to promote greater stability on
the continent, and they had since 1996 been organizing series of
training seminars, of which this was the fourth.
According to him, "at the moment, out of a total of fifty two
thousand U.N. peacekeepers worldwide, forty thousand are deployed on
our continent alone, and this dangerous trend especially in the
sub-region has prompted the world community to adopt a more
innovative approach at handling peacekeeping rather than the
traditional over reliance on the U.N. system for conflict
resolution". RECAMP 4 is the fourth exercise to be carried out on the
continent, but the first in the sub-region. It is unique because it
involves all fifteen Anglophone and Francophone countries.
The seminar is composed of two parts. The first, which comprises
political debates, will bring together diplomats and senior military
personnel from forty countries, including the fifteen ECOWAS
countries, and representatives of international organisations like
the Red Cross, UNICEF, UNDP, and would be centered on two main
objectives - management of the crisis and the strategy to stop it;
from the disarmament of the fighters, to the consolidation of the
state. The second is the planning by military personnel of a
fictitious operation that would be used as the base for the exercise
that would take place in Benin, which has been dubbed "Benin 2004",
in December.
In an address, the Commandant of KAIPTC, Brigadier General C.
Mankattah said the objective of the Centre was to be one of
excellence, with the highest of standards, and develop it into a
world class education, training and research facility embracing all
aspects of peace operations involving participants from the military,
diplomatic and all other organisations involved in peace
operations.
He said the Centre would offer Ghanaians as well as regional and
international participants the opportunity to examine specific peace
operations and give them the chance to update and share their
knowledge on the latest practices. "We will provide mission oriented
training at the operational level for selected participants prior to
deployment into areas of operation" he hadded.