Kofi Ampeah Woode
Ghana’s Army, Navy and Air Force, have commenced a joint annual Counter Terrorism Field Training Exercise (FTE) codenamed EXERCISE EAGLE CLAWS, under the theme: “Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism for Sustainable Peace and Development”.
The four-day FTE, commenced at the Air Force Base (AFB) Tamale, Bawa Barracks, on Monday 4 December, 2023, with the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) – Major General (Maj Gen) Thomas Oppong-Peprah, as the Guest of Honour, calling for the appreciation of the basics, and the importance of the role of the Soldier – the Rifleman.
General Oppong-Peprah, who birthed EX EAGLE CLAWS in 2020, said it was set up to develop troops’ skills, tactics, techniques, and practices, to get the military prepared for whatever type of threat Ghana faces.
“While we are planning at the Staff Level and everyone is being exercised, the fact still remains that we need to develop the skills of our Soldier – the rifleman – to understand the No.1 threat, how it behaves and the role that he has to play”, Maj Gen T Oppong-Peprah stated.
He called for the military to be mindful of communities within which they operate, build good relationships to mitigate the use of kinetic efforts that may arise, bring more engineers on board such exercises, and to use opportunities presented by such exercises, to address pertinent issues of locals in operational areas, in terms of deficient facilities, such as water, healthcare, access roads, etc.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC), Northern Command (N/COMD), and host of the EX EAGLE CLAWS ’23 – Brigadier General (Brig Gen) Matthew Kweku Essien, in his opening remarks, said the exercise will take place at the northern frontiers of Ghana, specifically in the Savannah, Northern, North East, Upper East and Upper West Regions.
Additionally, Brig Gen Essien stated that the threats facing Ghana, are present and near, and therefore, there is the need to continually train to ensure that when such threats manifest, the military is able to counter it.
He announced that the Ghana Navy Special Boat Squadron (SBS) will participate in EX EAGLE CLAWS ’23, and that, it is expected that at the end state of the exercise, troops participating, would have learned critical lessons, with mistakes noted and corrected.
He further notified the general public that, as a result of the exercises, the Military and other
Sister Security Services would be moving vehicles, equipment and personnel to the general areas of the exercise, and thereby called for cooperation of the citizenry.
On the first day of the exercise, troops were exercised on a scenario dealing with hostage taking of a passenger plane, by a terrorist advocate group, and of a VE group besieging an airport.
Participating troops are drawn from Ghana Army’s 6 Infantry Battalion, 69 Airborne Force, 155 Armoured Regiment, Ghana Navy’s SBS, Air Force Base (AFB) Tamale, Ghana Police Service, National Investigations Bureau, Ghana Immigration Service, National Ambulance Service, and the National Security Ministry.
Dignitaries present at the opening ceremony included the Deputy Chief of Staff, Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Logistics – Maj Gen Joseph Prince Osei-Owusu; Commander, AFB, Tamale – Air Commodore Joshua Mensah-Larkai; Commander, Army Training Command – Brig Gen Woseadzikpo Parbey, Heads of various Regional security institutions, amongst many.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode, Tamale
