Interior Minister lauds WANEP and KAIPTCfor Conflict Prevention and Peace

Accra, Sept 5, GNA - Mr Ambrose Dery, the Interior Minister has lauded the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) for their continued and sustained efforts in contributing to conflict prevention and peace building in West Africa through education and capacity building.

"I wish to reiterate my Ministry's commitment to supporting the numerous laudable initiatives by these two great African institutions and assure you of my personal interest in continuing the collaboration with your respective institutions," Mr Dery remarked in his address at the opening of the 16th Session of the West Africa Peacebuilding Institute (WAPI) in Accra.

He commended both institutions for various steps taken to promote peace in Ghana and the support they provide to the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).

The WAPI programme, which was launched in 2002, as a collaboration between WANEP and KAIPTC, seeks to increase the knowledge base in West Africa by contributing to research and enhancing the skills and expertise of individuals, organisations and businesses in the area of conflict prevention and peace building.

WAPI strives to overcome the gap in practice, knowledge and skills in peace building in the sub region and increase the number of competent, active peace building practitioners in West Africa, thus, increasing the possibilities of achieving reconciled, just and stable societies in the sub-region.

The three weeks WAPI programme is under auspices of the governments of Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Norway.

Mr Dery said in recent times, West African had been grappling with human security challenges, political violence, piracy and maritime security issues, violent extremism, dangerous and irregular migration dynamics, religious fundamentalism, communal clashes and agro pastoralist conflicts.

He explained that these challenges undermined the stability of the region as well as stunted developments and progress.

"As the number of violent conflicts and threats to peace on our beloved continent continue to rise, it has become imperative that a renewed effort to bring lasting end to conflict and structural violence be robustly pursued at different levels on our continent," he said.

Mr Dery said peace was a prerequisite for the development of a global culture of peace, based on universal human rights and values; adding that this should remind us all of our responsibility as global citizens towards the promotion of peace.

"To address the complex security challenges facing us today, there must be change in our way of thinking….a new thinking that prompts change in attitudes and behaviours; that abhors violence and promotes dialogue as the best and perhaps only means of conflict resolution," he said.

He said his Ministry would continue to work tirelessly to ensure that collaboration and partnerships between states and non-states was paramount in the execution of their mandate.

He noted that capacity deficits had been identified as one of the key lacunas attributed to the lack of efficient and effective strategies to addressing peace and security challenges on the continent.

He said prioritising capacity building within peace and security architectures and strategies of Member States were imperative for sustainable and result-oriented interventions.

Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Christian Edem Kobla Dovlo (retired), Board Chairman of WANEP, said the WAPI Programme was part of WANEP and KAIPTC's contribution in support of the ECOWAS and African Union (AU) peace and security agenda.

"It provides the platform through which together, we contribute to the enhancement of capacities of AU and ECOWAS Member States including civil society actors, business community and key ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to contribute their quota towards our collective search for a peaceful, stable and developed region and continent," AVM Dovlo, who is also a former Commandant of the KAIPTC stated.

AVM Griffiths S. Evans, the Commandant of the KAIPTC, said the proliferation of conflicts on the African continent had ravaged several countries, leaving governments, civil society as well as state institutions in a state of devastation.

He said the destructive consequences of conflicts was brought to the fore on a regular basis; stating that "this is evidenced in loss of infrastructure, weak governmental structures, ethnic tension, and the spread of small arms".

He said the economic, political, social, and psychological costs of these conflicts had exerted immense stresses on this continent.

AVM Evans said these tensions had also negatively affected the continent's developmental agenda; "a continent perceived as being consistently at war will definitely not attract foreign partners and investors".

"Indeed, it is as a result of these challenges that WANEP and KAIPTC established a strategic partnership geared towards promoting civil society/ civilian participation in peace building practice and development."

WANEP is a leading regional peace building organisation founded in 1998 in response to civil wars that plagued West Africa in the 1990s.

Over the years, WANEP has succeeded in establishing strong national networks in every Member State of ECOWAS with over 500 member organizations across West Africa.

WANEP places special focus on collaborative approaches to conflict prevention, and peace building, working with diverse actors from civil society, governments, intergovernmental bodies, women groups and other partners in a bid to establish a platform for dialogue, experience sharing and learning, thereby complementing efforts at ensuring sustainable peace and development in West Africa and beyond.

The KAIPTC was established by the Ministry of Defence in 1998 and commissioned it in 2004.

The purpose was to build upon and share Ghana's five decades of internationally acclaimed experience and competence in peace operations with other states in the ECOWAS region and the rest of Africa. This was in recognition of the need for training military, police and civilian men and women to meet the changing demands of multidimensional peace operations.

The Centre is one of the three Peacekeeping Training Centres of Excellence mandated by the ECOWAS to offer training in peacekeeping and Peace Support Operations in Africa.

GNA
By Iddi Yire, GNA