Emerging and existential threats posed by terrorist organizations across the African continent were strongly highlighted by Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia who described it as concerning and requires military collaboration in the sub-region and the continent as a whole.
Dr. Bawumia has therefore rallied the continent to take special interest in the continued training of their respective armies with contemporary technology and skills to foil whatever threat that may be targeted at a particular country.
Effective coordination according to the vice president, is required to deal with emerging threats in the sub-region.
“Recent attacks in Togo, Burkina Faso, and Ivory coast highlight the determination of the terrorists to expand beyond landlocked Sahelian countries where the insurgency has devastated thousands of lives and property in the last decade,” he said.
Over the years, there have been various crisis in the West African sub-region; a situation that requires collaborative efforts of our armed forces of the various countries to salvage the situation.
Dr. Bawumia underscored the urgency of the situation by describing the fight against terrorism as a collective responsibility among African countries.
He however expressed optimism that courses such as maritime sector governance, the defence management, conflict and crisis management, peace operations, as well as counter-terrorism and counter improvised explosive devices courses “will position graduands to fight off and foil contemporary defence and security challenges.”
The Vice President was speaking at the Ghana Armed Forces College where some 85 students 59 members of the Ghana Armed Forces and 26 others from eleven different African countries.
Inasmuch as the vice president who doubles as chairman of the Armed Forces council acknowledges the fact that it remains an obligation on government to properly equip the army, he also appealed to the business community to as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, extend support to the Ghana Armed Forces College to churn out well trained military officers who’ll be ready to protect the territorial integrity of Ghana and the various African countries whose representatives participated in the 16-month Masters programme in Defence and International Politics, and the allied students.
As part of the institution’s forward-looking plans, Dr. Bawumia called on the college to develop new modules that
“Focuses on the ongoing digitization awareness and cyber security issues. This is a passionate appeal and challenge that I am throwing to the Ghana Armed Forces to consider “.