Effective peacekeeping operations must involve security and civilian resources – Mumuni
Alhaji Mohammad Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, on Wednesday stressed that a combined approach involving military, police and civilian resources was critical to a successful peacekeeping operations.
He recommended that the combined approach needed to be implemented to meet political, economic, security, human rights, rule of law and criminal justice requirements prevailing in warring and post-conflict environments.
This was contained in speech read for Alhaji Mumuni at the Annual International Advisory Board Meeting of Training for Peace (TfP) in Africa organised by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra.
TfP is an international capacity building programme funded and co-ordinated by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Alhaji Mumuni said civilian and police peacekeepers had contributed immensely towards the restoration to reliable law enforcement systems, protection of civilian, security and criminal justice reforms, conducting of peaceful, free and fair elections as well as facilitating broader economic rehabilitation in post conflict states including Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire.
He said the government was committed to maintaining peace and security in both the West African sub-region and the rest of the world.
Alhaji Mumuni expressed the government’s gratitude to the management at the KAIPTC in addressing sub-regional training needs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Africa Union (AU).
Mr Tom Tyrihjell, the Norwegian Ambassador, lauded Ghana for its good governance and respect for rule of law, adding that the country’s contributions to peacekeeping processes were noteworthy and commendable.
He announced his government’s intention to establish an embassy in Ghana and its continued support to KAIPTC.
Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Christian Edem Kobla Dovlo, Commandant of KAIPTC, said the consolidation of peace and security remained a strenuous undertaking for post-conflict states, adding that most post-conflict countries not only lacked the necessary structures to address the issues but risked relapsing into conflict.
“In most cases, countries are still grappling with the very issues that have led to conflict, namely, bad governance, political and economic marginalization, fundamental human right abuses, exclusionary politics, personalization of power, corruption and … lack of orderly succession to power,” he said.
He said KAIPTC had a fundamental obligation to generate effective and sustainable capacities within the African and ECOWAS region and to build capacity to implement AU and United Nation’s peacekeeping and peace building mandates.
AVM Dovlo praised the Norwegian government’s commitment to address critical civilian and police gaps in African peacekeeping operations.
Through civil society programmes, TfP has since 1995 worked to strengthen African civilian and police capacity for peacekeeping operations.
Source: GNA