Security Agencies in Ghana on Wednesday appealed to governments of member states of the United Nations to develop more workable mechanisms that would ensure continuous support to peacekeeping in the world.
They argued that donor support for the numerous peacekeeping programmes was dwindling by the day, while new crisis were surfacing in all the parts of the world.
The Agencies made this call during a high- level panel discussion to commemorate the 2017 international Day for the United Nations Peacekeepers on the theme:” Investing in Peace around the World,”in Accra.
The dialogue and panel discussion, which was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and other stakeholders formed part of Ghana’s activities to mark the 2017 Peacekeepers’ day.
Colonel John Kuseh, Department of International Peace Support Operations of who traced the participation of the Ghana Armed Forces back in 1961 in Congo said they had since participated in major peacekeeping operations throughout the world.
He said the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) currently had 2, 300 personnel serving in 12 missions and they were contributing in formed troops, Naval Forces, specialists; such as Medical, Engineers and Military Police for protection.
He said inspite of their participation and enviable position in the world ranking, they were experiencing some challenges such as; high cost of maintenance and repairs of equipment, need to upgrade their machinery to meet the robust nature of crimes among others.
Chief Superintendent Francis Tsidi, Chief Staff Officer at the Office of the Inspector General of Police said like the Military, the Police service had also served in Cambodia, Namibia, Kuwait among other missions and ranked seventh in the world as the second largest contributor of personnel and expertise in Africa.
He attributed the conflicts and crisis in some major missions to the infiltration of sophisticated weapons and called for the tightening of borders to prevent their influx.
Mr Sylvester Rabbles, Director of Prisons, In-charge of Operations called for the inclusion of the Ghana Prisons Service in their budgetary allocations since their participations had over the years been facilitated by the GAF and the Ghana Police Service.
He said since they started participating in the missions, they had contributed 176 members and 40 personnel are currently serving in Darfur, Haiti and Somalia.
He said investing in peacekeeping was very critical as the conflicts and crisis in the world were not ending anytime soon.
Chief Superintendent Justice Amevor, Sector Commander of the Aflao Ghana Immigration Service called for a strategic plan that would include the Ghana Immigration and other agencies to play their roles meaningfully in the country and beyond.
Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, Dean of Academic Affairs at the Ghana Armed Forces Staff College who moderated the programme said there were 16 on-going peacekeeping programmes in the world with a total of 112, 211 serving in those missions.
He said 124 countries were contributing to the missions.
Apart from the dialogue and panel discussion, the Planning Committee of the UN Peacekeepers’ Day would also have a health walk on Saturday, May 27 and climax it with a flag-raising ceremony at the forecourt of the State House on Monday, May 29.
GNA
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