Course on security cooperation in WA underway in Accra
Security and defence officials from seven West African countries are attending a course in Accra on how to facilitate co-operation on security and defence issues in the sub-region.
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The participants attending the two-week course include senior and middle-level officials from Parliament and the Defence and the Interior ministries of Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali.
It is being organised by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and sponsored by the British Government.
Opening the course in Accra yesterday, the Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr Kenneth Adjei, said the course would help the participants come up with appropriate policies, principles and techniques to advance the transformation of defence and security development in Africa.
That, he said, was crucial to strengthening defence and security sector institutions in the sub-region.
He said the course was expected to equip the participants to contribute to the development, implementation and review of national security and defence policies.
“The ultimate aim will be to restore professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness of the security and defence sectors to consolidate democracy in developing and transitional democracies, especially in Africa,” he said.
British High Commission
The Deputy British High Commissioner in Accra, Mr Gavin Cook, said the world was emerging from a very difficult period, including the global financial crisis and threats by insurgents.
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“Today, ISIS continues its brutal campaign across northern Iraq and Syria; we face growing insurgencies in Libya and Yemen; Boko Haram threatens Nigeria and it threatens its neighbours,” he said.
Besides, he said, Al Shabab in Somalia and other extremist groups in the Sahel threatened security, while the situation in Eastern Ukraine remained a serious concern.
He said there were also threats from weapons proliferation, the relentless advance of cyber warfare, non-state actors advancing an expansionist global ideology, rogue states and traditional military advantage being undermined by disruptive technologies.
Therefore, Mr Cook said, there was no room for complacency in striving continuously for excellence at every level throughout government and the security sector.
In that light, he said, the British Government believed it was in its own national interest to promote prosperity and security in Africa, saying, “We need our partners to be stable, prosperous and secure.”