Annan opens peacekeeping training centre in Ghana
2 August -- Wrapping up his official visit to Ghana, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today broke ground at an international peacekeeping training centre named in his honour.
The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College will train African troops for peacekeeping operations on their own continent and eventually elsewhere in the world. The Secretary-General emphasized the value of the Centre, noting that "a good peacekeeper is a well-trained and well-equipped peacekeeper."
Asked by reporters about the lack of funding for African peacekeeping missions, the Secretary-General acknowledged that operations in the former Yugoslavia commanded greater support from the world's more prosperous countries. "I think this underscores the need for us to prepare ourselves and develop our own capacity to be able to play a role in our region whilst we look to others to assist us," he said.
In the afternoon, Mr. Annan received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Ghana. In his address, the Secretary-General spoke of the potential of new communications technology to help developing countries achieve progress. "Since the most valued resource in this age is intellectual capital, it is possible for the developing world to overcome traditional constraints and to leapfrog long and painful stages of the road to development," he said.
At the same time, he pointed out that information technology could not replace the wisdom of the ages. "In Ghana's traditional societies, education was an informal activity that was carried out by the community, where the young would learn from the elders before assuming their responsibilities," he observed. "Allow me to suggest that the community is no less important today, even in the age of the Internet."
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