The Independent - mardi 25 mai 2004
40,000 of 52,000 UN peacekeepers are in Africa
By Edmund Smith-Asante
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Akwasi Osei-Adjei, has
disclosed that out of the entire 52,000 United Nations peacekeepers
deployed the world over, 40,000 are in Africa.
The minister said this situation has arisen because "framers of the
United Nations Charter never anticipated the magnitude and complexity
of conflicts, especially in Africa and could therefore not lay the
firm structures for their resolution".
He opined that this trend has result in the world community adopting
a more innovative approach towards handling of peacekeeping, other
than the over reliance on the UN system in resolving conflicts.
Mr. Osei-Adjei, who was delivering the keynote address at an
international seminar at the Kofi Annan International Peace Training
Centre (KAIPTC), Accra, dubbed RECAMP IV 2004, yesterday May 24,
2004, thus praised the French Government for organizing and funding
the seminar.
"The efforts of the French Government in empowering national
security systems, regional and sub-regional grouping in enhancing
their capacity to handle peacekeeping at their own levels is a
welcome intervention, especially at a time that countries in our
sub-region are sprouting out of military regimes to a multi party
democracy based on the rule of law, " he said.
Whilst lauding the objective of the seminar - the reinforcement of
African peacekeeping capabilities, the deputy minister cautioned "as
Africans we need to be guided in our peacekeeping operations by both
the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the provisions in the
UN Charter, which deal with peaceful resolution of conflicts."
He recounted the issue of the treatment meted out to Iraqi prisoners
by American soldiers, as ample evidence of the embarrassment the
actions of peacekeepers could cause their country in the "diplomatic
fraternyti."
The deputy minister expressed the hope that the seminar would play a
crucial role in preventive diplomacy by empowering regional groupings
to be informed on early warning systems to help check the spread of
conflicts.
Before rounding off his address, Mr. Osei-Adjei who though expressed
optimism that Africa was charting the path towards an ambitious
future with the replacement of the Organisation of African Unity
(OAU) with the African Union (AU) and its subsequent establishment of
an "African Peace and Security Council" wondered if the council would
be more effective than mechanisms which operated within the OAU for
about a decade.
Commandant of the KAIPTC, Brigadier General C.H. Mankattah in his
welcome address said the work of the centre was relevant to and
supportive of the work for peace in the sub-region. In view of this
he found it appropriate that the seminar was being organised there,
as several peacekeeping operations are ongoing and "many of our
colleagues are contributing troops for such operations."
The French RECAMP Ambassador, Mr. Pierre Jacquemot in his
presentation at the seminar said its initiative was to support the
will of African countries, adding that the success of RECAMP had been
proven by its continued existence since its inception in 1996.
Emphasing that RECAMP was not a fixed concept but adapted itself to
stakes in each country where there was conflict he submitted "It is
important that RECAMP be integrated by various stakeholders."
Other speakers were the deputy Executive Secretary of ECOWAS,
General Diarra, deputy Chief of Defense Staff of the French Armed
Forces, Vice Admiral d'escadre Coldefy and deputy Military Assistant
to the deputy Secretary General, Peace Keeping Operations, Brigadier
General Mouhamadhu Kandji.