Cycle RECAMP IV

Exercice Benin 2004

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WEST AFRICA: Major Military Exercise To Boost ECOWAS forces

The original document can be read on-line on the IRIN news website by klicking on the following link: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41330

Brigadier-General Elhadji Kandji, leftACCRA, 28 May 2004 (IRIN) - Some 1,200 West African soldiers are scheduled to hold a major military air, sea and land simulation exercise to enhance the peacekeeping capabilities of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Benin next November, military chiefs said in Ghana on Thursday.

The exercise is expected to guide the handling of future crisis situations in a sub-region, where there are currently four peacekeeping operations underway, in Cote d'Ivoire, Western Sahara and the UN's biggest missions in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"ECOWAS should have a Rapid Reaction Force for quick deployment into crisis situations. It is the way forward. It is always better to intervene early," RECAMP Project Officer, Colonel Philippe Beny, told IRIN on Friday.

At the closing session of RECAMP 4, Brigadier-General Elhadji Kandji, Deputy Military Advisor at the UNDPKO, said African peacekeeping operations were crucial in complementing the UN's role, particularly when the UN was not in the position to deploy rapidly enough as was in the case of Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire.

The November exercise forms the tactical military component of a just-ended major international peacekeeping and training seminar in the Ghanaian capital Accra, dubbed 'RECAMP 4'.

However, behind closed door discussions continued Friday.

RECAMP - Reinforcement of African Peacekeeping Capabilities - is a French security and defence policy, aimed at helping African states under the umbrella of sub-regional organisations to acquire military capabilities that would enable them to conduct peacekeeping operations on the African continent.

RECAMP intervened in Central African Republic and Guinea Bissau in 1997 and 1999, and also in Ivory Coast to support the ECOWAS and UN peacekeeping missions after the failed coup in September 2002.

The US government has a similar policy, American African Contingency Training Assistance (ACOTA) that is has been operating in Anglophone West African countries.

An Initial Planning Guidance (IPG) document was presented on Friday that will direct the theatre of operations in Benin. It has been submitted to ECOWAS Chairman of Defense Staff, Lieutenant-General Seth Obeng.

The IPG is expected to be further fine-tuned at a strategic conference scheduled to be held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, next month.

Though it is envisaged that training exercises initiate novel ways in which peacekeeping missions are conducted, RECAMP officials insisted that they are basically reinforcing the capability of ECOWAS countries to handle crisis situations themselves.

"We must be realistic: this is not new training for the troops," Colonel Beny told IRIN.

"What we are doing is to create an imaginary crisis situation, share our experiences and then harness the common capabilities and procedures of both Anglophone and Francophone countries in the sub-region to tackle conflicts," he said.

"We are all together in this exercise. Officers from France, Britain and the US are all part of the Joint Staff to help ECOWAS channel its military capabilities in the same direction and with similar goals," Beny added.

International organisations and the donor community have echoed boosting the capabilities of sub-regional bodies like ECOWAS rather than individual countries as a way forward to tackle the myriad of conflict situations afflicting the African continent.

A special facility, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, opened in Ghana last November to providing peacekeeping training for military officers in the region.

According to the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO), there are currently seven UN military peacekeeping missions in Africa.

For France, the evolution of the RECAMP programme to the changing situations is a permanent concern to tackle the new needs of African countries.

"RECAMP is not competing with other programmes but is adapted to the stakes of peacekeeping on the African continent," said Deputy Head of the French Armed Forces, Rear Admiral Coldefy.

"It is perfectly in tune with the defense and security policy of the African union and should be continued," he added.

RECAMP SEMINAR ENDS IN ACCRA

The original document can be read on-line on the governmental site of Ghana by klicking on the following link: http://www.ghana.gov.gh/news/article.php?id=0000005457

The first part of the RECAMP IV Seminar, which took off on Monday, May 24, at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, came to a successful end today.

The first part of the seminar was political/diplomatic in nature. The second part which is military in content begins tomorrow and ends on Friday, May 28 at the same venue in the Ghanaian capital.

Addressing a Press Conference, General Diarra, ECOWAS Deputy Executive Secretary, in charge of Political Affairs, Defence and Security at the RECAMP IV, told journalists that it was very beneficial for ECOWAS to have participated in the seminar. He said the quality of contributions made by over 200 participants including diplomats, politicians and senior military officers from all over the world were commendable.

"I want to particularly appreciate the quality of presentations and frankness with which the various discussions and contributions were made, based on the experience and recommendations of participants," said General Diarra.

General Diarra noted that, drawing from experiences in Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia, the seminar provided concrete answers to some of the lingering questions on problems encountered by ECOWAS during interventions in those countries.

"ECOWAS will therefore, take into account all the recommendations and suggestions made for future interventions," he remarked. General Diarre affirmed that RECAMP IV was on the right tract towards achieving the objective of strengthening ECOWAS capabilities in Peacekeeping Operations.

The General announced that ECOWAS had already taken the necessary measures for the next phase of RECAMP IV, which is the Strategic Conference to be held at the ECOWAS Secretariat in Abuja from the 7th to 11th June 2004. He explained that the outcome of the Abuja meeting will constitute the draft of the Concept to Operations for RECAMP IV which would then be presented to ECOWAS Defence and Security Commission on 17th June 2004, in Abuja, Nigera.

General Diarra expressed profound gratitude to the French Government and other associated partners for the enormous resources committed to the seminar. He commended the Government and the people of Ghana for their legendary hospitality.

Mr Pierre Jacquemot, the RECAMP ambassador from the French Foreign Affaires Ministry, France, stated that without peace and security there would be no socio-economic development on the African continent. Reacting to a question as to the cost of the seminar, Mr Jacquemot said the value of human life cannot be quantified in monetary terms, adding that the French Government is more concerned about peace, security and stability in the West African sub-region, rather than the cost of the seminar, thus the investment in the RECAMP IV event in Ghana.

Ambassador Cleland, former Ghanaian Diplomat, who chaired the function, thanked all the organisers and participants of RECAMP IV for choosing Ghana for the event. He described RECAMP IV as a commendable training opportunity for equipping and strengthening ECOWAS in its peacekeeping operations for the benefit of the entire sub-region regardless of language differences.

Source :Information Services Department 26/05/04

International Peacekeeping Seminar Opens In Accra

The original document can be read on-line on the governmental site of Ghana by klicking on the following link: http://www.ghana.gov.gh/news/article.php?id=0000005435

A five-day international peacekeeping and training seminar dubbed: 'RECAMP 4' being hosted by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping and Training Centre (KAIPTC) opened at Teshie, near Accra last Monday. The French government is sponsoring it in collaboration with the Ghana government.

About 220 multinational participants including Diplomats, Senior Military Officers from about 40 countries, representatives of European Union; United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and International Red Cross are attending the seminar. RECAMP is the acronym for "Reinforcement of African Peacekeeping Capabilities," a French Security and Defence policy in Africa.

Under the aegis of the UN and in agreement with the AU, the RECAMP programme aims at helping African states to acquire military capabilities that would enable them to conduct peacekeeping operations across the African continent. It is the Francophone version of the American African Contingency Training Assistance (ACOTA) to Anglophone West African Countries.

This seminar is a prelude to a major military exercise comprising the armies of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), other African countries, EU, Canada and other organisations that would take place from November 29, 2004 to December 11 2004 in Benin.

Opening the seminar, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Akwasi Osei-Adjei said peacekeeping operations should be carried out within the framework of International Law and not infringe on the rights of the people it was supposed to be protecting.

"From the perspective of International Humanitarian and International Criminal Law, it is crucial as Peacekeepers to measure our actions in line with what was reasonably acceptable in the eyes of the international community."

Mr Osei-Adjei stressed the need for African countries in peacekeeping operations to be guided by the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the provisions in the UN Charter that dealt with peaceful resolution of conflicts. He said it was also important that all players in the peacekeeping arena - Foreign Affairs Ministries, Non-Governmental Organisations as well as other UN agencies - carried out their functions within the framework of international law.

Mr Osei-Adjei noted that the framers of the UN Charter on peacekeeping never anticipated the magnitude and complexity of conflicts especially in Africa and could, therefore, not lay the firm structures for their resolution. He said that the trend had given way for the world community to adopt a more innovative approach of handling peacekeeping than the over reliance on the UN system for conflict resolution.

Mr Osei-Adjei said the French government's efforts in empowering national security systems, Regional and Sub-Regional grouping in enhancing their capacity to handle peacekeeping at their own levels was a welcome intervention especially as countries in the Sub-Region were sprouting out of military regimes.

Currently, out of a total of 52,000 UN peacekeepers, 40,000 are deployed in Africa. He said even though the UN Charter recognised the role of regional organisations as stipulated in Article 52 of the Charter, the role was rather sidelined for almost five decades.

He expressed the hope that the RECAMP exercise would play a crucial role in preventive diplomacy by empowering Regional institutions to gather information on early warning systems to help prevent conflicts from spreading.

The Deputy Minister told the delegates that political authorities had the responsibility of ensuring that good governance was brought to bear on the management of their economies in averting conflict situations that threaten their very survival. He said it was important that Regional and Sub-Regional Peers joined hands with their development partners to ensure that the tenets of good governance were observed.

"The Peer Review Mechanism of NEPAD is, therefore, a timely intervention in measuring the standard of regimes in running the affairs of State on the African continent", he noted.

RECAMP was created in 1996. This year is the fourth cycle, and it has been dedicated to ECOWAS. The Political/Military seminar would be centred on two main objectives: the management of crisis and the strategies to stop them and the simulation of a fictitious operation, which would be used as a base for the "Benin 2004" exercise.

Source: GNA 26/05/04

Le Togo souhaite plus de réactivité dans le maintien de la paix - 24/5/2004

Le document original peut être consulté en ligne en cliquant le lien suivant : http://www.republicoftogo.com/fr/news/news.asp?rubID=1&srubID=66&themeID=1&newsID=8131

C'est mardi que l'Union africaine lancera officiellement son Conseil de la paix, copie du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU chargé de prévenir les conflits et, le cas échéant, d'envoyer des soldats de la paix. Une autre initiative existe déjà, il s'agit de Recamp, (Renforcement des capacités africaines de maintien de la paix). Une réunion se déroule actuellement à Accra sous les auspices de la Cedeao, en présence du chef de la diplomatie togolaise.

Depuis plusieurs années, Paris et Washington ont testé sur le terrain les concepts Recamp (Renforcement des capacités africaines de maintien de la paix) et Acri (Africain Crisis Response Initiative), mais ces dispositifs se sont souvent heurtés au bon vouloir des donateurs et à l'état de déliquescence des armées dans nombre de pays africains.

Ces questions sont actuellement évoquées au Ghana par les ministres des Affaires étrangères d'un certain nombre de pays africains. Kokou Biossey Tozoun, le ministre togolais des Affaires étrangères, est sur place.

Le Togo milite depuis de longues années pour la mise en place d'une force d'intervention rapide en cas de crise majeure. A Lomé, on souligne que le plus important est la capacité de réaction des états à envoyer des troupes sur les zones de conflits. Qui dit capacité de réaction dit rapidité.

Or, palabres, réunions d'experts et sommets stériles retardent l'acheminement de forces d'intervention.

Ce que regrette le Togo qui aimerait de la réactivité dans les opérations de maintien de la paix.

C'est à ce prix que l'on pourra éviter qu'une petite bande de miliciens provoquent l'embrasement général d'un pays.

En photo : casques bleus marocains débarquant la semaine dernière à l'aéroport d'Abidjan

23 mai 2004

Militaires et diplomates africains à l'école du RECAMP
Dakar, Sénégal (PANA) - Français et Ghanéens organisent, du 24 au 28 mai prochain à Accra, au Ghana, un séminaire de formation à l'intention des militaires et diplomates d'une quarantaine de pays du continent, selon un communiqué du Rétablissement des capacités africaines de maintien de la paix (RECAMP) parvenu à la PANA.

GHANA TO HOST RECAMP SEMINAR

The original document can be read on-line on the governmental site of Ghana by klicking on the following link: http://www.ghana.gov.gh/article.php?id=0000005379

Ghana will host RECAMP IV 2004 cycle which is a Politico Military Seminar at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC) in Accra from Monday, 24 to Friday, May 28, 2004.

Briefing journalists today at the KAIPC in Accra, Lt-Col.Jérome Sallé of the French HQ stated that the RECAMP IV 2004 cycle seminar is an enhancement of African Peacekeeping Capabilities being organized collectively by the French and the Ghanaian Forces under the auspices United Nations Organisation (UN).

Its chief objective of the programme is to assist the African Union (AU) to maintain the security of the African continent. The RECAMP concept aims at preventing the crisis and allowing the African Regional Organizations to arrange sufficient military capabilities to conceive and lead peace operations on the continent.

This seminar in Ghana is said to be the fourth RECAMP cycle since it was created in 1996. This year's cycle is dedicated to the ECOWAS. The choice of ECOWAS had been necessitated by the major role it is playing in the stabilization of the countries of the Region in crisis such as in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote D'Ivoire.

The seminar will have two parts. The first part which takes off on Monday to Wednesday in Ghana will bring together Diplomats and Senior Military personnel from about forty countries. Others will be representatives from the main International Organizations (Member Countries of European Union and the Security Council). There will also be representatives from the main Non- Governmental Organizations (UNICEF, International Red Cross).

According to the organizers, the debates of the first part will be centered on two main objectives: the management of the crises and the strategy as to how to stop the crisis (from the disarmament of the fighters to the consolidation of the State). During this session, the participants would be given the chance to exchange ideas and reflect on their participation in peacekeeping.

The second part of RECAMP seminar objective will involve the Military Personnel who will plan the fictitious military operation by both Ghana and Benin troops. It will take place at the beginning of December 2004 in that country under the code name of "Benin 2004" exercise.

Journalists would be given the opportunity to be present during the Accra event, especially the opening ceremony on Monday and a Press Conference which will be held on Wednesday, 26, 2004.

Source: ISD 21/05/04

Le document original peut-être consulté en ligne sur le site du Ministère Français des Affaires Etrangères en cliquant le lien suivant : http://www.diplomatie.fr/actu/article.asp?ART=42307

Séminaire politico-militaire au Centre Kofi Annan à Accra du 24 au 28 mai 2004
Dernière mise à jour : 19/05/04

Déclaration du porte-parole du Quai d'Orsay
(Paris, le 19 mai 2004)

Dans le cadre du quatrième cycle d'entraînement au maintien de la paix du programme RECAMP (Renforcement des capacités africaines de maintien de la paix) qui est centré cette année sur la CEDEAO(Communauté des Etats d'Afrique de l'Ouest), un séminaire politico-militaire se tiendra au Centre Kofi Annan à Accra du 24 au 28 mai 2004. Ce séminaire est organisé conjointement par les Ministères des affaires étrangères et de la Défense de la France et du Ghana, qui assure la présidence de la CEDEAO.
Depuis la création du concept en 1997, il s'agit du quatrième cycle RECAMP. Pour mémoire, ' RECAMP ' a pour objet de répondre à la volonté de l'Union africaine, des organisations sous-régionales et des pays africains d'être en mesure d'assurer eux mêmes, avec le soutien de la communauté internationale, la sécurité du continent africain, en les aidant à disposer des capacités militaires suffisantes pour concevoir et mener des opérations de paix.

Premier rendez-vous majeur du cycle RECAMP IV, le séminaire du 24 mai sera l'occasion de mettre en commun l'analyse et la réflexion des diplomates et des militaires, sur les problématiques essentielles de la gestion et la sortie de crise. Il s'agit par là même de renforcer les capacités opérationnelles de la CEDEAO sur ces questions. Le séminaire politico-militaire précède l'exercice de terrain ' Bénin 2004 ' qui aura lieu au début du mois de décembre 2004.

De nombreux organisations et pays seront représentés aux côtés de la CEDEAO et de ses pays membres: les Nations Unies, l'Union européenne, les institutions financières internationales, l'Union africaine, les autres organisations sous-régionales africaines, le Comité international de la Croix Rouge, des pays contributeurs au maintien de la paix en Afrique, ainsi que des pays membres de l'Union Européenne et du Conseil de sécurité.

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