The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), is set to host the second edition of its Kofi Annan Peace and Security (KAPS) Forum, scheduled for Wednesday, December 8 and Thursday, December 9, 2021, at the centre.
The 2021 edition is on the theme: ‘Democracy and Governance in the Context of Complex Crises in Africa’ and is being organised by KAIPTC in collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation in Geneva.
The maiden edition of the Kofi Annan Peace and Security (KAPS) Forum which was organized in 2019, brought together political leaders, diplomats and experts to dialogue and share ideas on the most critical evolving peace and security trends on the African continent.
In his welcome address to participants during the maiden edition of KAPS Forum in 2019, Air Vice Marshal Griffiths Evans, former Commandant of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), said the centre had adopted a new five-year strategic plan – spanning the years 2019 to 2023.
The plan primarily seeks to deepen their engagement with their stakeholders and partners who continue to guide and support their vision of becoming the leading and preferred international centre for training, education and research that are focused on ensuring a peaceful and secured Africa.
Being the continent’s biggest forum that addresses contemporary peace and security issues, it is expected that the centre would account for the impact of the five-year strategic plan after three years of implementation.
The 2021 edition, which is the second edition of the Kofi Annan Peace and Security (KAPS) Forum, would have President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the Special Guest of Honour.
The event will also see six African former presidents and two former prime ministers participating in the two-day forum.
The six African leaders are Ghana’s two former presidents, Mr. J.A Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama; former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; former President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone; former President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria; and Niger’s former President Mahamadou Issoufou.
The two former prime ministers are Mr. Kabine Komara and Lansana Kouyate, all from Guinea.
Other dignitaries include, Mr. Elhadj As Sy, the Chair of the Board of the Kofi Annan Foundation; Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, ECOWAS Special Envoy to Guinea and Chairman of the KAPS Forum; Ms. Hannah Serwaa Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union (AU) and Head of the UN Office to AU, among others.
The 2021 Kofi Annan Peace and Security Forum is sponsored by the governments of Sweden, Norway and Ghana as well as the Federal Government of Germany, through GIZ. It will be held both on-site and on-line.
The forum is in memory of the late Kofi Annan, former United Nation (UN) Secretary General, who was known as a global icon of peace and security, and had the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre named after him for his outstanding role in promoting peace and security across the continent.
Mr. Annan led the United Nations (UN) from January 1997 to December 2006.
- Story by Maxwell Woyram Tsigbe