Help address root causes of conflicts on continent

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged graduates of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) to help address the root causes of conflicts on the continent.

He observed that unearthing the root causes of conflicts was key towards consolidating peace and preventing relapse into violence in post-conflict countries.

According to him, the root causes of those conflicts include “underdevelopment, poverty, corruption, inequitable access to resources, youth unemployment, poor governance, human rights abuse, climate change, weak law enforcement and governance institutions, and the lack of free and fair elections.”

President Akufo-Addo said this when he addressed a joint graduation ceremony of students who have completed the Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security Studies, Master of Arts in Gender, Peace & Security and Executive Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace & Security Studies programmes at KAIPTC at Teshie in Accra yesterday.

Traditional challenges

The President urged the graduates to also bear in mind that the traditional challenges to security on the continent, such as chieftaincy conflicts, armed robberies, land disputes, religious intolerance, ethnic conflicts and political rivalry, were being compounded by contemporary threats such as drug and human trafficking, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, cyber-crime and activities of nomadic herdsmen.

“The emergence of transnational organised crimes, together with the evolving nature of terrorism, especially in the Sahel region, will continue to undermine efforts at creating a progressive, prosperous, peaceful and stable continent,” he added.

Support for KAIPTC

The President commended the KAIPTC for its efforts to expand its physical infrastructure and said the government would support it to carry out its mandate.

He gave an assurance that the government would support KAIPTC to complete its Training and Academic Block to guarantee additional training opportunities for interested participants.

The completion of the block, he noted would also give impetus to the roll-out of additional academic programmes to meet the expected demand, thereby increasing the stock of critical peace and security practitioners and experts in dire need on the continent.

He thanked the past and current members of the governing board and the executive management of the KAIPTC for the great work in superintending the institution.

True education

The Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Bedfordshire, who was the Special Guest Speaker, stressed the need for the graduates to blend intelligence with true character, saying that was the essence of true education.

He urged them to broaden their horizons beyond the boundaries of Ghana and to have cross-cutting relationships with others in their fields across the world.

That way, he said, they would develop a globalised skills set that would make them relevant to modern-day challenges.

Writer’s email: victor.kwawukume@graphic.com.gh