The Ghanaian TIMES - mardi 25 mai 2004
French Army supports Africa's peace-keeping
ops
By Norman Cooper
THE FRENCH Government is assisting with the training of
African Armed Forces to enhance their peacekeeping capabilities and
to prepare them for any eventuality on the continent.
The exercise is meant to equip the continent with a standby army of
its own so it can deal with conflicts without having to wait for the
intervention of international organizations such as the United
Nations (UN).
The empowering of African armies by the French to maintain their own
regional intervention force is also meant to prevent a situation in
which prisoners are abused by foreign peacekeepers as has been done
recently by US soldiers to Iraqi prisoners.
This came to light during the opening of a five-day International
Peacekeeping Politico-Military Seminar at the Kofi Annan
International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) at Teshie, near
Accra.
Dubbed the "Recamp", the seminar's theme is "Strengthening African
Peacekeeping Capabilities".
Delegates are present from 40 countries from Africa, Europe, Asia
and America.
The seminar will prepare some of the participants for a simulated
peacekeeping exercise in Benin in December.
The debates and discussions will centre on the management of crises
and strategies to end crises.
In his opening address, the Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Akwasi
Osei-Adjei, said the French Government's assistance to the
peacekeeping operations of Africa's armies was especially welcome at
a time when "most African countries were transitioning from military
dictatorship to multi-party democracy based on the rule of
law".
Africans, he stressed, must be prepared at all times to solve their
own crises in line with international humanitarian principles and
international law.
"We, as political authorities, have a responsibility to ensure that
the issue of good governance is brought to bear on the management of
our economies", The Deputy Foreign Minister told the participants.