Empower institutions to fight crime - African govts urged

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, has stated the need for African governments to build the capacities of their institutions to effectively fight crime, especially mass killings.

He stressed that the prevention of mass atrocities was better than intervening after the act had been committed.

Mr Alhassan was speaking at the closing ceremony of a two-week course for 30 security officers and civilians drawn from 20 African countries in Accra yesterday.

The participants were from Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

Objective of course

The course, designated “Responsibility to Protect Pilot (R2P),” sought to equip the participants who comprised military and police personnel, as well as civilians, with the skills to identify the causes of atrocities and draw strategies on how to prevent their perpetuation in their respective countries.

It was jointly organised by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) and the Danish government.

Topics treated during the course included Principles of State Sovereignty and Non-intervention, Responses to Mass Atrocities in International Law and Reforming and Training of Security Services.

Certificates were presented to all the participants.

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Responsibility 

Mr Alhassan stressed that it was the primary responsibility of African governments to put in place the necessary mechanisms to combat atrocities, for which reason stakeholder institutions needed to be equipped with effective tools and their personnel given training to manage crime.

“This has necessitated the need for capacity building of all actors — military, police and civilian stakeholders, to better appreciate the principles of the Responsibility to protect norms,” he said.

Mr Alhassan urged the participants to use the knowledge and skills they had acquired from the course to tackle criminal activities within the continent.

For his part, the Commandant of KAIPTC, Major General Obed Akwa, said the course was designed to help address challenges faced by security agencies in the prevention of atrocities.

He said the history of atrocities in some African countries, including Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, required formidable action to prevent their recurrence.