Security officers start course on halting atrocities
Security officers and civilians from 20 African countries yesterday began a training programme in Accra on how to discourage targeted killings of innocent civilians in Africa.
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The two-week course seeks to equip the military, police and civilians with the skills to identify the causes of atrocities and draw strategies on how to prevent their perpetuation in their respective countries.
It is 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 being treated at the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) course include principles of state sovereignty and non-intervention, responses to mass atrocities in International law and reforming and training of security services .
Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are some of the countries participating in the course.
Opening the training, Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Thomas Kwasi Quartey, said the course was unique because it was the first of its kind in the world.
Besides, he said, the course marked a defining moment for future pursuits “to halt mass atrocities that unfortunately, characterise modern day conflicts.”
Atrocities
Mr Quartey recalled that more than 800,000 Rwandans were massacred within 100 days in 1994.
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Course coordinator
The Executive Director of GCR2P, Dr Simon Adams, said the history of atrocities in some African countries, including Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan required a formidable action to prevent their reoccurrence.
The course would, therefore, equip the participants with the needed skills to pre-empt and prevent the perpetuation of atrocities.
The Ambassador of Denmark to Ghana, Ms Margrit Thomsen, said Ghana had a lot to share in terms of information sharing and openness.