By Kofi Akordor
From the ashes of any major calamity sprouts monuments of peace and progress. That being the case, one can say the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) did not come by through accident.
Those who have followed the numerous political upheavals in the sub-region, some culminating in violent confrontations and civil wars, will admit that the KAIPTC was a consequence of the many conflicts which bedevilled the sub-region over the last two decades or so. It was conceived and nurtured by the desire to pre-determine coming events, proactively act to stem conflicts and, where they become unavoidable, put mechanisms in place to restore normalcy in conflict situations as quickly as possible and reduce to the barest minimum the carnage and social disintegration associated with such violent conflicts.
After the secessionist war between the short-lived Biafra and Nigeria between 1967 and 1970, the sub-region enjoyed relative peace, even though military coups were rampant in most of the countries. But when Charles Taylor led his fighters of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) to launch an attack on Samuel Doe’s forces on Christmas Eve, 1989, the situation in the sub-region changed.
For the next 10 years or so, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had to intervene in the Liberian civil war until the return to civilian rule in 2003. That war and those in Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and, to a limited extent, Cape Verde, might have brought it home to leaders of the sub-region the need to have an early-warning mechanism in place to engender proactive efforts to pre-empt violent confrontations, instead of waiting for the harm to be done before mobilising for peacekeeping operations.
The experiences gained mainly by Ghanaian soldiers in several peacekeeping operations in various parts of the world, including the Middle East, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur and other conflict zones where they saw the ravages and miseries brought about by wars, created the platform for the establishment of an institution that would serve as a forum for top military officers, leading politicians and civil society organisations committed to peacekeeping and conflict prevention and resolution to engage themselves on matters of peace-building and security challenges.
There was also the growing awareness that the wind of democracy blowing across the continent had brought in its wake election-related conflicts such as those witnessed in Kenya in 2007 and Cote d’Ivoire after the November 2010 elections. That demanded diplomacy and expertise in peace-building and conflict resolution to handle. The ground was, therefore, fertile for an institution such as the KAIPTC to sprout out of the debris of war and conflicts in the sub-region.
In January 2004, the KAIPTC became formally established, even though the records show that it started its programmes in 2003 as one of the three ECOWAS-designated training centres of excellence committed to undertaking research into conflict and issues of which appropriate training courses are developed and delivered for various military, police and civilian personnel involved in peace support operations not only in West Africa but also other parts of the world.
It was established by the Ministry of Defence Instruction (MDI) dated November 10, 1998, with Establishment Number MOD/03. The Ministry of Defence, in collaboration with the ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Interior and Finance, exercise limited supervision over the activities of the KAIPTC. It, however, has an independent governing board as its highest decision-making body.
For its vision, the KAIPTC aims: “To be an internationally preferred centre of excellence for research into and training for conflict prevention, management and resolution, and innovative thinking in integrated peace support operations and sustainable delivery of enhanced regional capacity building for peace support operations.”
It has as its mission: “To develop and deliver internationally recognized professional training courses and related programmes to equip personnel with selected skills and competencies required to meet Africa’s present and future complex peace and security challenges.”
At the end of the day, the strategic objectives of the KAIPTC include: Contributing to the development of regional and sub-regional capacity in the delivery of integrated peace support operations; Enhancing regional and sub-regional capacity for conflict prevention, management, resolution and peace-building; Enhancing understanding of critical peace and security issues in West Africa in particular and the continent as a whole; Creating effective, efficient and sustainable management and support arrangements for the centre.
These are laudable objectives and, seven years down the line, the research and training staff of the centre have collaborated with various development partners to deliver over 170 courses in diverse aspects of peace support operations for over 5,400 individuals and organisations from 87 countries across the world.
Within this short period of its existence, the KAIPTC has already attained recognition as a renowned international centre of excellence for education, training and research in peace support operations. It has, over the period, successfully engaged and collaborated effectively with national governments, regional and international organisations, diverse national and international institutions and others involved in research/training, governance, peace and security issues.
It has programmes in crisis information management; disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration; small arms and light weapons specialised course; conflict prevention; the rule of law and the media in peace support operations.
The centre has also been conducting research in areas such as regional peace and security, conflict prevention and peace-building and civil-military relations. Others are human trafficking, money laundering, maritime security, cross-border crimes and post-conflict peace-building.
As an indication of its development and progress, it has received accreditation from the National Accreditation Board as a tertiary institution. This has paved the way for the centre to run graduate programmes, including Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security; Postgraduate Diploma in Development Diplomacy and Post-Certificate in Integrated Peace Support Operations.
The idea is to deliver peace and security training at an academically upgraded level, while at the same time providing an avenue for generating sustainable funds for the centre.
The centre has also established partnerships with some renowned international bodies and educational institutions, including the University of Pretoria in South Africa, the Fourah Bay College, the University of Sierra Leone, the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Conflict Prevention.
The KAIPTC’s journey this far would not have been possible without support from various international development partners, both governmental and non-governmental, from the US, Germany and the UK.
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