Book on Indigenous African Warfare launched
A book on “Indigenous African Warfare”, chronicling indigenous Ghanaian and West African military art and science, authored by Colonel (retired) Festus Aboagye, a security analyst was launched in Accra on Tuesday.
The 539-page book contains insightful works on the theoretical aspects of military art and science in the Gold Coast, the old Ashanti Kingdom and the very relevant developments of the former Northern Territories, as parts of present-day West Africa.
The 14-chapter book, published by Ulinzi Africa Publishing, attempts to present a structured approach to the study of the concept and art of indigenous African warfare and their relevance in colonial and post colonial context.
“I am convinced that the publication more than adequately meets its aims at seeking to correct the fundamental misconception that such a warfare were only relevant as a countervailing force to the onset of colonialism or better still the arrival of the Europeans on our shore”, said Lt. Gen Seth Obeng, a former Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces at the launch at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping and Training Centre (KAIPTC).
“I can confidently say that it adds a very refreshing and considerable illumination to the study of modern warfare and does very well in elevating the significance and potential of that discipline as an academic and research exercise”, he said.
Lt. Gen Obeng recommended the book for professional military studies in the Ghana Armed Forces and for those who sought to acquire professional, academic and general knowledge on Ghana and African military history.
He also suggested the establishment of military history clubs, especially at the Ghana Military Academy, to assist in cultivating the study of military history by cadet officers, using the publication and other books as part of the essential bibliography.
Touted by military analyst and officers as a “work that fills a wide gap in professional military and academic literature” on Ghana and African military history, the book, which took the author over two decades to write, is a contribution to the enhancement and enrichment of contemporary military professional and academic studies, including its assignment in graduate courses in African history.
The book, which rejuvenates the study of indigenous warfare and raise its profile in the study of modern warfare, seeks to collate and reinterpret the scattered existing works on indigenous military history by adding new areas of research, such as gender dimensions of military organization and warfare, and military budgeting.
Col. Aboagye, the Author said he got the idea to put together a military history book in 1974 when he observed a “serious” deficiency in the literature on Ghana’s military history.
Source: GNA