Ghana has played host to over 800 military personnel from about 12 countries to undertake training in different military drills.
This edition of the United Accord Exercise began from July 16th and brought together military personnel from the ECOWAS, some partner nations and U.S. Army.
The two-weeks training saw participants taken through a large-scale multinational military exercise including a Command Post Exercise (CPX), Field Training Exercise (FTX) Medical Readiness Training Exercise (MEDRETE) and Jungle Warfare School (JWS).
In a media interaction after the Programme to mark the end of the exercise, Co-Coordinator of the exercise, Brigadier General Osabutey of the Ghana Armed Forces explained that the programme is aimed at setting a common standard among participating countries to facilitate common understanding and procedure when faced with similar problems.
"After the lecture, they go through an exercise where a scenario is created and then they try to react to the scenario so in all roughly 800 (military personnel) in all were involved. There were about 12 countries across West Africa including Europe. We have some coming from the Netherlands, we have some coming from Germany, we have some from Italy. We have some who are already in the operational area in the UN like MINUSMA, South Sudan they have been asked to come and join us" he stated.
He explained that "it will contribute a lot because we will all be on the same wavelength where we will know what to do in the mission area, maybe there are other areas or others from other countries that have not had the opportunity to go on missions so this exercise one way or the other will introduce them into the activities of Peacekeepers in mission area."
Speaking at the event, US Deputy Chief of Mission to Ghana, Christopher Lamora, lauded Ghana's efforts at maintaining the relationship that exists between the government and the US government.
Christopher Lamora stressed exercises such as the United Accord are crucial for fostering teamwork and building partnerships for the future.
"I want to thank government of Ghana and the Kofi Annan Center for your outstanding hospitality throughout United Accord, which builds on a longstanding multi-faceted partnership with the US government. I have heard great things about how well the Exercise went and I look forward to hearing even more" Christopher Lamora hailed.
The Deputy Chief of Missions asserted, "Exercises like United Accord give us an opportunity to observe, appreciate and most importantly learn from each participating nation's unique knowledge, capabilities and capacity"
This is the third time Ghana is hosting the training. The second was held in the first quarter of this year.
