Addo-Kufuor pass tribute to fallen UN Peacekeepers

Accra, Jun 2, GNA - Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of Defence, has paid tribute to Ghanaian Service personnel who like their counterparts from other countries contributing troops to the United Nations in the quest for world peace and international security have lost their lives. He said, "It is quiet appropriate to remember those brave men and women who lost their lives in the cause of world peace".

The Defence Minister speaking to mark "International Day of the United Nations Peace-keeping" in Accra said, "We must honour them with a pledge that as individuals, groups or nations, we will strive at all times to uphold the simple virtue of freedom and justice, peaceful co-existence, tolerance and mutual respect for humanity regardless of race, colour, creed, sex or ethnicity as our contribution towards peace in the world".

Dr Addo-Kufuor stressed the need for African countries to avoid conflicts by showing a deeper commitment to regional integration and good governance for growth and development.

The Minister of Defence, who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia, said the establishment of the Kofi Annan International Peace-keeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Ghana was an ample proof of the country's commitment to global peace and security. He noted that the Institute continuously provided facilities to build on the capacity in international affairs and the maintenance of peace and security in the sub region and Africa and called on development partners to help in sustaining it. Dr Addo-Kufuor pointed out that even though the global effort at peacekeeping was laudable, the higher objective should be for the international community to find new ways of removing the causes of conflict.

He called for support for the peacekeeping efforts of the UN Security Council, which the Defence Minister said would go a long way in reducing the "untold human suffering, deprivation and death, which are usually visited on the poor, weak and vulnerable during such conflicts". Barely three years after the coming into force of the UN Charter, the Security Council on 29 May 1948 passed Resolution 50 mandating the deployment of its first peacekeeping personnel in the Middle East under the UN Truce Supervision Office (UNTSO).