Kofi Ampeah Woode
The second and final Steering Committee Meeting of the project on “Preventing Violent Extremism, Radicalisation, and Small Arms Proliferation in the Sahel and adjoining Coastal Countries in West Africa”, which is a collaboration between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Japan and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC, has come off.
The Steering Committee Meeting took place at the KAIPTC, Teshie, Accra, on Thursday March 14, 2024, and was attended by the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana – His Excellency (HE) Mr Mochizuki Hisanobu; UNDP Representative – Mr Sukhrob Khoshmukhamedov, the Commandant, KAIPTC – Major General (Maj Gen) Richard Addo Gyane, and the Committee.
Prior to the commencement of the Steering Committee Meeting, Ambassador Hisanobu made a donation of two motorbikes – one to the Fusion Centre and the other to the Accra Initiative Secretariat – adding to six such motorbikes already presented to agencies in Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, and Togo, in the course of the implementation of the project, to support terrorism prevention efforts.
Speaking to initialize the final meeting, Maj Gen RA Gyane said the meeting enabled the Committee to take stock of its purpose and achievement, to reflect on the progress made during the one-year lifespan of the project, and give the necessary directives towards the closure thereof.
He continued that although the project may not have ended the rate and frequency of terror attacks in the sub-region, it has contributed to creating awareness about working together among the actors, and developing skill-sets in the Accra Initiative member-states.
Over the past year, the project has used research, capacity building, and policy dialogue to improve knowledge and information-sharing among security personnel and civil society actors, in strengthening sub-regional collective response capacities, and it is through such initiatives that crisis response activities can be enhanced, for a more resilient and secure future for the region.
Through capacity development, training of trainers, and regional policy seminars, the project empowered 92 participants (made up of 22 women and 70 men) in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Togo.
Technically, bringing complex and intellectually independent topics such as Violent Extremism, Radicalisation and Terrorism (VERT) and Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) control together in one training course was a challenge, and that security conditions in each of the participating countries are different, General Gyane continued.
The options of hosting training and dialogue activities in some of the participating countries, ensured that the project not only benefited more people in the country, but also enabled local resource persons to join in the training facilitation and instructions, and present the issues in ways that reflect the local conditions.
The Representative of the UNDP in Ghana – HE Mr Sukhrob Khoshmukhamedov, asked that attention be given to what has been learnt, and the emerging opportunity to focus efforts and limited resources, in order to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism.
HE Khoshmukhamedov said the activities of extremists and terrorists are spreading across the region and undermining the sub-region’s human security; in the recent Global Terrorism Index, as he cited that Burkina Faso has the epicentre of terrorism for the first time, putting the economic, social, political and environmental gains made towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) at risk, in West Africa.
He continued to say that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) provides a roadmap to eradicate poverty and sustain development, by tackling the root causes of conflict and insecurity, and to be futuristic beyond the successes of the project, by continuing to advance a proactive and preventive regional response.
HE Ambassador Mochizuki said, the growing terrorist threat in the Sahel region is also further increasing towards coastal countries in Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, and Togo, with the terrorist acts escalating due to the proliferation of SALW in the region.
He said the project specially aligns with Japan’s partnership with African countries, to strengthen peace and stability, with a focus on democracy and rule-of-law, as was emphasized at the eighth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD), in May 2023.
Mr John Pokoo – leader of the Steering Committee, presented an overview of the project “Preventing Violent Extremism, Radicalisation, and Small Arms Proliferation in the Sahel and adjoining Coastal Countries in West Africa”.
Participants were from the Government of Japan, the UNDP, the Small Arms Commissions of participating countries, Civil Society Organizations, Counter-terrorism Units, the Accra Initiative, and the KAIPTC.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
