Kofi Ampeah Woode
Five (5) African Ex-Presidents have planted trees at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre’s (KAIPTC) Peace Garden, Teshie, to symbolize their commitments and great efforts to support the nurturing and blossoming of peace on the African continent.
His Excellency (HE) Lieutenant Colonel Dr Jakaya Kikwete (Rtd) – Patron of the UONGOZI Institute Secretariat, and Ex-President of Tanzania, HE Moncef Marzouki – Tunisia’s Ex-President, HE Thomas Boni Yayi – Benin’s Ex-President, HE Dr Ernest Bai Koroma – Sierra Leone’s Ex-President, and HE Hailemariam Dessalegn – Ethiopia’s Ex-Prime Minister, took turns on Friday 26 May 2023, to imbed the plants.
The African leaders who a day earlier, had participated in the 7th African Leadership Forum, under the theme: “Promoting Intra-African Trade to Unlock Agricultural Potential in Africa”, were led by HE Dr Kikwete who said the tree planting was also an opportunity for them to put a signature of their visit to the famed KAIPTC.
Of the African Leadership Forum, President Kikwete said former African leaders meet, discuss, exchange ideas, share experiences and knowledge, with sitting leaders, on subjects of interests to Africa’s socioeconomic growth and development, since its establishment in 2014, with the brains behind being former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Festus Mogae of Botswana, and late President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania.
He hinted that the next forum would feature issues on the environment and particularly Climate Change since it is a matter of security, where there is so much movement of people who have been affected by the global phenomenon.
The Commandant, KAIPTC – Major General (Maj Gen) Richard Addo Gyane, who addressed the leaders prior to the implantation, presented KAIPTC to his audience as one of the three Training Centres of Excellence (TCEs) sanctioned by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Peace-making in the subregion.
KAIPTC referred to as the place “where peace begins”, has a vision to support continental and regional efforts in the promotion of peace and security in Africa, through research and training, which feed into the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), and ECOWAS Peace and Security frameworks and Architecture.
General Gyane said the KAIPTC Peace Garden is seen as a beacon for posterity to choose dialogue over violence, no matter the provocation, and has presented the space for many distinguished leaders and personalities across the world to leave footprints in the sands of time, as testimony of the sacrifices they are eternally willing to make to give peace a chance.
He used the opportunity to announce the 2023 edition of the Kofi Annan Peace and Security Forum (KAPS Forum), which is scheduled to take place in Accra from 12-13 December 2023, and shall focus on the theme: “Climate Diversity and Maritime Safety: Opportunities and Challenges to Silencing the Guns by 2030 and Beyond”, and thus invited the dignitaries there gathered, to attend.
He asserted that one of the deadliest calamities to befall the current generation is climate change, and that “the sad thing is that it is literally the actions and inactions of our race, especially those with the capacity to do something about it, that appears to be causing Nature to retaliate with disasters in horrendous proportions, that threaten our very source of life”.
He added that Climate change is creating insecurity in the West African subregion with unemployment, displacements, faming, flooding, despondency, brain drain, irregular migration, conflicts, gender-based violence, violent extremism, terrorism, piracy, and maritime insecurity, and that the earlier work is done together to address these negative effects, the better the chance of achieving the continental goal of “Silencing the Guns” by 2030.
“Our generation is on the verge of reaping harrowing consequences from insecurity if we allow what should unite us as one people to rather divide us, as we reach for the now and forget our tomorrows”, General Gyane stated.
KAIPTC’s Peace Gardens already have trees planted by persons of renown such as; the 7th and 9th United Nations Secretary Generals – HE Kofi Annan and HE Antonio Guterres, respectively, Madam Nane Maria Annan – widow of HE Kofi Annan, Ex-President and current Presidents of Ghana – HE Jeremiah John Rawlings and HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, respectively, amongst many.
Other dignitaries at the encounter included HE Wamkele Mene – Secretary General, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Directors and Staff of KAIPTC, Senior Members of the UONGOZI Institute, and of the (AfCFTA) Secretariat.
