Kofi Ampeah Woode
The United Nations (UN) Training Recognition Certified Army Peace Operations Training School (APOTS), has held its maiden Pre-Deployment Training (PDT) closing parade with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Ghana Battalion 90 (GHANBATT 90), after 3-weeks Mission Leadership Training and 7-weeks Military Skill Validation Training.
The rain-defying parade took place on Wednesday 2 August 2023, at the APOTS sports field, with the Commander, Army Training Command (CATRAC) – Brigadier General (Brig Gen) Stephen Woseadzikpo Kweku Parbey, as the Reviewing Officer (RO).
Brig Gen Parbey said in his presentation to the troops that, the essence of the PDT was to equip them with the requisite knowledge and skills for the tasks ahead, since contemporary peace operations have evolved to the extent that, Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) are required by the United Nations to meet certain criteria and standards of training, before being inserted into any theatre of operation.
He continued to say that, since the 7 weeks training is not enough to arm them with everything that is to be known about their duties in the operational theatre, as a team, they should draw on their experiences from other peacekeeping missions, in executing their respective tasks.
In his welcome address, the Commander, APOTS – Colonel (Col) Clement Dingane said UNIFIL-GHANBATT 90 is 862 strong, with a female strength of 174 (that is 20% of the battalion).
He said the school organized a 3-week Mission Leadership Training for the Key Appointment Holders of the Battalion, to facilitate the implementation of the Mission’s Mandate, and later held the 7-week Military Skill Validation Training, for the entire team from 19 June to 2 August 2023, all at the Battle Training Camp (BTC), Bundase, where APOTS is headquartered.
Topics treated included: Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Negotiation and Mediation in Hostile Terrain, Crowd Management/Dispersal, Cordon and Search Operations, Key and Vulnerable Points, Key Leadership Engagement Techniques, Leadership in Peace Support Operations, Rules of Engagement, Raid/Rescue Operations, Protection of Civilians, Psychological Operations, VIP Escort, Civil Military relations (CIMIC), etc.
Col Dingane continued that, in ensuring derivation of the full benefit of the package, training sessions were made highly interactive to allow participants share their experiences and brainstorm on Exercise Based Scenarios, Table Top Exercises, Operational Orders/Briefings and Field Exercises during the training.
These activities culminated in a Command Post Exercise, which was successfully conducted for the Military Leadership Training, and a final exercise code named “DRADO NYUI” for the Military Skills Validation Training.
In a space of 2 years since its establishment, a total of 4,342 personnel have been trained and deployed on various peace operations by APOTS, and out of this number, 604 representing 13.9% were females.
APOTS, by UN assessment, has successfully satisfied the criteria and standards of the world body, leading to the issuance of UN Training Recognition Certificate to the School, thus becoming an important national asset for training, not only personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces, but also other personnel from the West African sub-region.
Dignitaries present at the parade included Chief G3 Peace Support Operations, Army – Col J Danso-Ankrah, Commanding Officer, UNIFIL-GHANBATT 90 – Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Frank Kwesi Agyeman, Second-in-Command, APOTS – Lt Col R Dela-Klutse, Lt Col Tetteh, Lt Col Baninyeni, Officers, Sergeant Major of UNIFIL GAHNBATT 90, Warrant Officers and Soldiers.
