African Conference of Commandants

 

Second African Conference of Commandants Opens in Ghana

 

The Ghanaian Deputy Minister for Defence, Honourable William Ofori Boafo, has stated that as institutions of Higher Learning, where middle-level military officers are prepared for higher appointment and increased responsibility, Command and Staff Colleges in Africa have a vital role to play in harmonising various ways African countries could work together in any theatre. The Deputy Minister welcomed forums such as the African Conference of Commandants (ACoC) which, he said, were vital in Africa’s quest to develop a united approach to developing African solutions to African problems.

Honourable Ofori Boafo was opening the 2nd ACoC in Accra on Monday, October 27, 2008. The conference is taking place at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) and is expected to last through Friday, October 31, 2008.

Addressing participants at the opening ceremony, the Deputy Defence Minister said peace support operations had become important tools in Africa, which could provide an enabling environment for conflict resolution and long-lasting peace. He observed that given the desire of Africans to find solutions to their problems, the Conference of Commandants could foster teaching and training of middle-level military officers for the command and administration of the components of an effective African Standby Force (ASF).

He was however hopeful that participants would develop innovative training methods and relevant modules that would make their graduates better equipped to be responsive to Africa’s challenges.

Attending the conference are delegates from the Command and Staff Colleges of Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. There are participants from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Botswana, Cameroon, Namibia, Senegal and Zambia. Others are facilitators from the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).  The Institute of Security Studies (ISS), with its headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa, and offices in other parts of Africa, has through its Security Sector Governance programme been providing the conference secretariat.

The opening ceremony was also attended by the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Joseph Boateng Danquah, the Chief of the Army Staff, Major General Samuel Odotei, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear Admiral ARS Nuno, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Julius Boateng, and Major General Carl Coleman, former Commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College and now a security sector consultant, among others.

Ghana is assuming the chairpersonship of the conference, with the Commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Major General Richardson Edwin Baiden, taking over from Brigadier General Mashobane Sipho David, Commandant of the South African National War College and the outgoing chairperson of the first conference.

 

Accra
27 October 2008