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Mr Chukwuemeka B. Eze (4th left), Executive Director, WANEP, and Brig. Gen. Kotia (3rd left), Deputy Commandant, KAIPTC, with some participants. Picture: NII MARTEY M. BOTCHWAY
Mr Chukwuemeka B. Eze (4th left), Executive Director, WANEP, and Brig. Gen. Kotia (3rd left), Deputy Commandant, KAIPTC, with some participants. Picture: NII MARTEY M. BOTCHWAY

Strengthen security operatives in conflict prevention - Brigadier Gen. Kotia

Ghana and other African countries have been urged to build the capacity of their security operatives in conflict prevention, early warning signals and election management. 

The Commandant of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Brigadier Gen. Emmanuel W. Kotia, made the call in a speech read on his behalf at the opening session of a four-week West African Peace-building Institute (WAPI) training course in Accra yesterday.

The process, he said, ought to hinge on dialogue and mediation with stakeholders in order to build a robust security regime that would promote national cohesion and development.

The WAPI course

The month-long programme is under the auspices of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), in collaboration with the KAIPTC.

Seventy participants drawn from African Union (AU) member countries will study courses such as Early Warning and Conflict Prevention, Dialogue and Mediation, Gender and Peacebuilding, and Human Security and Development.

The initiative is targeted at building the capacity of the participants on issues of peace and security and how to engage local, regional and international agencies and stakeholders to promote peace and security.

Collaborations

Brigadier Gen. Kotia observed that the magnitude of risks the country and the continent faced in relation to violent extremism called for effective collaboration among the WANEP, the KAIPTC and other security agencies to enhance national security.

“In order to fully support national and African peace and security architecture, peace initiatives and interventions, we need a collaboration of stakeholders such as the KAIPTC and the WANEP in order to develop the relevant courses and training programmes that will respond effectively to the changing face of conflict in the West African sub-region,” he said.

He encouraged civil society organisations (CSOs), state agencies and the business community to participate in security training courses, saying that issues of security had no boundaries.

‘Leadership is key’

The Executive Director of WANEP, Mr Chukwuemeka B. Eze, said the WAPI course provided the opportunity for CSOs and state agencies to leverage their expertise in the collective interest of national economies.

He said issues of security transcended the borders of human conflicts to threats of diseases and crisis in governance, for which reason he urged the leadership of African countries to put in place structures to improve health care and promote good governance.

Mr Eze observed that it took deliberate leadership policies and a commitment to deal with a new generation of conflicts that had afflicted African countries and brought about devastating consequences on such countries.

He urged the participants to put the skills they would acquire at the WAPI course into practice in their countries to enhance  peace and security on the continent.

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