KAIPTC and LECIAD to host two-day seminar on African Peace Support Operations

The United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting will take place in Accra, Ghana, on 5-6 December 2023. Delegates from more than 85 countries and international organizations will meet to discuss the support and commitments needed to strengthen current and future UN Peacekeeping operations.

This year’s event will focus on critical issues on advancing sustainable peace, protection of civilians, strategic communications and improving the safety and mental health of peacekeepers.  The flagship event, co-hosted by the United Nations and Ghana, marks the fifth such meeting at the ministerial level and the first to be held on the African continent.

As part of activities connected to the UN Ministerial meeting, The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Accra, The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), the University of Ghana, Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD), the Training for Peace programme (TfP) and the Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network (EPON) will host a side event for experts to discuss The Evolution of African Peace Operations and Best Practices for Future African-led Peace Support Operations.

 

The 2-day seminar will focus on,

  1. The AU´s and African-led PSO´s partnership with the UN, as well as other international partners, and whether the AU and African-led PSOs should seek UN assessed contributions;
  2. How the adoption of stabilisation approaches in the African context has impacted African Peace and Security;
  3. The challenges Africa will likely face in peace and security over the coming decades; and
  4. The lessons learnt from how missions were established and how they are being sustained for the next generation of the ASF.

 

The Expert Meeting will take place on 6th December 2023, at the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) under the theme “the evolution of African Peace Operations”; while the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) will host a High-Level Meeting on the 7th December 2023 under the theme “AU-UN peace operation partnerships”

Speakers at the seminar will include; Major General Richard Addo Gyane, Commandant, KAIPTC; Prof. Emmanuel Debrah, Director, LECIAD, University of Ghana, Legon; Col. Sesay Sheku Tejan, African Union, Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD); Prof. Thomas Maldrup, University of Stellenbosch and the Royal Danish Defence College; H.E. Ambassador Harold A. Agyeman, Ghana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York; Mr. Sivuyile Bam, Former head of AU Peace Support Operations Division and HE El Ghassim Wane, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Mali and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

 

Programme

Day One (Expert Meeting)

Date: 6th December 2023

Venue:  The Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) J.K.M. Hodasi Rd, Accra, Ghana

Theme: The evolution of African Peace Operations

Key Guiding Questions

  • Examine and reflect on the evolution of peace operations and peacekeeping in Africa, assessing what has changed: increased global rivalry, nature of conflicts, climate change, and mis/disinformation impacting these operations;
  • How can African-UN partnership and financing options be strengthened, and what critical steps should occur over this and the next decade?;
  • How have African peace operations evolved in light of no new UN PKOs? What does this mean for the proliferation of African operations and the diversification of types of operations and political bodies that undertake these operations?;
  • Explore the use, relationship and management of security versus political solutions;
  • How can African missions balance the need for security responses with holistic responses?; How do African missions manage civil-military relations? Furthermore, how do we connect PSOs with stabilisation and Peace, Conflict, Reconstruction and Development (PCRD), the host state and its population, and critical actors such as CSOs, with humanitarian and other international actors?
  • What are the implications for the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), the ASF concept, African armies and Peacekeeping training centres?

 

Day Two (High-Level Meeting)

Date:    7th December 2023

Venue: Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC)

Key Questions

  • How can the AU-UN relationship move towards better synergy when it comes to the AU’s deployments of PSOs, political missions, and UN political missions?
  • What have been some missed opportunities, and how can we move to a better and more effective partnership at strategic HQs and in the field?
  • What are some of the trends that have resulted in fewer UN PKOs and/or more African-led PSOs, and what have been the drivers behind these dynamics?
  • What will new developments such as the Common African Position, the UN Secretary General report, the New Agenda for Peace, the UN Department of Peace Operations report on UN supporting African peace enforcement and the Joint AU-ECOWAS-UN assessment on the Sahel mean for future AU-UN relations? Will there be implications for the UN? Will there be new types of Support missions and/or Operations from the UN? What will this mean for the future of African-led PSOs?
  • What implications, opportunities and challenges should the AU and African-led PSOs be aware of going forward?