ECOWAS Standby Capacity (ESC)
Interview of President Kadré D. OUEDRAOGO on ECOWAS' 40th Anniversary by AIT News.
The centres – National Defence College (NDC) Nigeria; Kofi Anan International Peace Training Centre (KAIPTC), Ghana; and the Ecole de Maintien de la Paix (EMPABB), Mali – were designated as Training Centres of Excellence (TCEs) with the aim of giving training support for the ESF among others.
The National Defence College is the apex military training institution for the Nigerian Armed Forces, and a Centre of Excellence for peace support operations training at the strategic level in West Africa. The National Defence College (NDC) was established in 1992 as the highest military institution for the training of senior military officers in Nigeria. Since the Nigerian Armed Forces had long established a strong tri-service military training heritage with the establishment of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, for cadet training, and the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, for middle level staff training, it was appropriate and cost effective to continue the tradition by establishing the new strategic level military institution, the National Defence College, on a tri-service basis.
The KAIPTC is one of three institutions designated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a regional Centre of Excellence for the delivery of training and research in the areas of conflict prevention, management and peace building. The KAIPTC has to date offered over 230 courses in diverse aspects of peace support operations for over 11,000 military, police and civilian personnel. Based in Ghana, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) provides training and research in peacekeeping and peace operations. Established in 1998, it formally began operations in 2002. KAIPTC commenced its first full annual training and education cycle in March 2004, and has since expanded its curriculum to over twenty different courses.
The School of Peace Keeping "Alioune Blondin Beye" (EMPABB) in Bamako (Mali Republic) aims to promote peace across the continent by strengthening African capacities in support of peace operations and disseminating the culture of peace. For this, the school benefits from partnerships and international support that enabled the establishment of an infrastructure and modern facilities, unique in Mali. These partnerships also find expression with non-governmental and international organizations working in Mali or West Africa. Under the authority of a Director General, the General Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, the School of Peace Keeping "Alioune Blondin Beye" is an international institution Malian law. Its board of directors includes representatives of member nations financially and technically contribute to its operation. It also benefits from the expertise of other training centers through a dynamic exchange with the rest of the plane.
The advent of the African Union (AU) can be described as an event of great magnitude in the institutional evolution of the continent. On 9.9.1999, the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity issued a Declaration (the Sirte Declaration) calling for the establishment of an African Union, with a view, inter alia, to accelerating the process of integration in the continent to enable it play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation.
The main objectives of the OAU were, inter alia, to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African States; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to promote international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations.
Indeed, as a continental organization the OAU provided an effective forum that enabled all Member States to adopt coordinated positions on matters of common concern to the continent in international fora and defend the interests of Africa effectively.
Through the OAU Coordinating Committee for the Liberation of Africa, the Continent worked and spoke as one with undivided determination in forging an international consensus in support of the liberation struggle and the fight against apartheid.
