Participants of the 2019 peace operation course in a group photograph with the German Ambassador, and other dignitaries
THE GHANA Armed Forces Command
and Staff College (GAFCSC), has completed this year’s Combined Joint African
Exercise (CJAX) to officially end its Peace Operations Course 2019.
The three
weeks course, designed to
deepen participants’ awareness on international global issues, the changing
roles of the Armed Forces, fostering civil/military relations and enhancing
interests in national development, was attended by students at the senior division
level of the college, which included 40 military personnel from the Ghana Armed
Forces, while the rest were from thirteen other sister African countries and
civilians.
Countries that participated included Botswana, Ivory
Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Togo, Sierra
Leone and Zambia.
Participants were taken through a two week intensive
course on Peace Operations, while the
third week was used to practice all what they have learnt in an
exercise – codenamed Combined Joint
Africa Exercise (CJAX).
At the closing ceremony held at the
Kofi Anna International Peacekeeping
Training center, (KAIPTC) in Accra, the German Ambassador to Ghana –
Christoph Retzlaff, revealed that the German government would continue with its
support for KAIPTC and similar courses, especially in contemporary times, when
threats to regional security, originating from the Sahel region, pose great
challenge to all.
He urged affected countries and the
international community, to join forces in the fight against insecurity on the
continent.
“The International Community and
affected nations, must act fast and decisively to counter security challenges
since the nature of armed conflict is changing, thus peace support has become a
multi-dimensional challenge that includes expertise such as humanitarian and
relief efforts, stabilization operations, security sector reforms, support to
reconstruction and economic recovery, as well as support in the fields of
governance and democracy.”
To the participants, the German
Ambassador to Ghana advised them to maintain the network amongst themselves, as
they have a variety of professional backgrounds and are from different countries.
“Networking for peace building and
peacekeeping, is key to the success of ensuring peace and stability in Africa,”
he added.
Adding his voice, Dr Vladimir Antwi
Danso, Dean Of Academic Affairs Of the Ghana Armed Forces Command And Staff
College, (GAFCSC) said the importance of peacekeeping in our part of the world
cannot be over emphasized and in understanding peacekeeping and its support and
all those things that they have to do in order to bring peace in the world, such
programmes were inevitable.
He said the participants have enjoyed
the programme in understanding what it meant by peacekeeping even though the
military personnel amongst them have experienced it practically but had now got
the experience in understanding the essence of peace keeping at the strategic,
operational and tactical level.
The Peace Operations study is an
exercise agreed upon by members of an association called the Conference of
African Commandants of Staff Colleges, which started the exercises in 2007,
stopped in 2010 and resumed in the year 2014.
The Facilitators for the CJAX were former Deputy Force Commander in Rwanda and former Deputy Head of the African Union (AU) UN hybrid Mission in Sudan – Major General (Maj Gen) Anyidoho (rtd), former Deputy Force Commander in Liberia – Maj Gen Carl Mode (rtd), Ambassador Joseph Felli, Gen Kusi (rtd) and experts from KAIPTC.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey
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