African Commandants Conference is ideal – Ghana’s Chief of Defence Staff
Lieutenant General Peter Augustine Blay, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), has observed that the African Conference of Commandants (ACoC) is important because there was the need for interoperability in the various armed forces.
He said it was important that African Staff Colleges come together and learn how to work as a team, to prepare them to deliver as a force, whenever needed, without any difficulty.
Lt-Gen Blay made the observation when participants attending the three-day ACoC Working Group meeting in Accra paid a courtesy call on him.
He commended the Commandants for a good job done so far, and assured them that they would get all the support and assistance they needed when their requests were communicated to their various CDS.
A statement issued by Lieutenant Colonel E. Aggrey-Quashie of the GAF Directorate of Public Relations said, the meeting was held at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) in Teshie.
It was to deliberate and reach a consensus on a strategic plan for ACoC, finalise ACoC’s constitution and further explore opportunities and challenges in the harmonisation of curriculum across the various Staff Colleges in Africa.
The meeting attended by 14 participants from Botswana, Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda and Ghana, was the result of a resolution made during the Fifth ACoC held in 2011 and served as a prelude to the Sixth Conference, to be held later this year in Abuja.
The participants discussed the adoption of an ACoC Constitution later in Abuja, the strategic document for promoting education, training and development at the highest strategic and political levels, which would be adopted in order to contribute to the long term goals of solving common African peace and security challenges.
Other issues deliberated on were the funding and marketing of the organisation, professionalism and exchange of ideas in the various Staff Colleges.
Major General K. Yankson, Commandment of GAFCSC, addressing the opening session, reiterated ACoC’s role in forging a common ground in education for African military officers, especially in the field of peacekeeping and disaster mitigation.
Brigadier General G. Morake, Chairman of ACoC, said the meeting was successful and urged the participants to continuously seek for recognition for the organisation and ensure that the decisions taken at the meeting were implemented.
ACoC is a non-profit organisation formed in 2007 and made up of Commandants from the various African countries with the aim of enhancing harmonisation, interoperability, commonality, standardisation and cooperation between African Staff Colleges.
It is also committed to reinforcing the work of the regional peacekeeping training centres or centres of excellence, such as the African Peace Support Trainers’ Association (APSTA) as well as Pan-African Defence Education, and the delivery of peace missions and military operations rather than war education.
Source: GNA