No discussions to move KAIPC to Foreign Ministry - Statement

Accra, March 24, GNA - The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) said on Thursday that there were no discussions to move the Centre from the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An official statement said the government had assigned the responsibility of administering the Centre to the Ministry of Defence. "Any change in this policy would be a decision of the Ghana Government," it said.

"The Centre enjoys an excellent collaborative relationship with the Ministry of Defence, whose support has been instrumental in its achievements to date," it said.

According to the statement, the KAIPTC "maintains a fruitful and deepening relationship" with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which could be strengthened further by the provision of additional staff form ECOWAS member states. About 75 per cent of the students trained at the Centre come from the Sub-Region.

The Ghana News Agency on Wednesday quoted Major Marc Ascui, Course Director in charge of the Civil-Military Cooperation (CMIC) of the Centre, as saying that there were discussions to move the KAIPTC from the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He was speaking when 15 Journalists from ECOWAS countries attending a two-week training programme paid a visit to the Centre.

Major Ascui was quoted as saying if the Centre were shifted to the Foreign Affairs Ministry it might lose the advantage of accessing facilities of the Ghana Armed Forces.

"Any attempt of shifting the Centre to another Ministry requires some logistic and financial commitment, and I hope the discussions will take all that into consideration."

The Journalists from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea and Benin were led by Mr Andes Dieter, a representative of the International Institute for Journalism (IIJ) in Berlin, organizers of the seminar.