Africa lacks resources for peace

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong, has said the challenge in securing permanent peace, security and justice in parts of Africa was because the continent lacked the right resources, capacity and skills to tackle it.

He said as a result, state security and justice institutions were perceived to be part of the problem rather than a solution.

The minister was addressing security chiefs, traditional rulers and other multiple actors in ‘understanding and working with local sources of peace, security and justice in West Africa,’ in Kumasi yesterday.

 The two-day programme is being put together by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping and Training Centre (KAIPTC) and the University of Queensland, Australia and funded by Australian Aid (AUSAID) under the auspices of the Australian government.

Mr Sarpong noted that the growing debates about the state’s ability to adequately provide for the security of its citizens had necessitated investigations and discourses on existing alternative forms of security and justice provision in Africa.

The Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at KAIPTC, Dr Kwesi Aning, a security expert, said the two-year project,  which is on its final leg and ends June,  next year, was to re-direct the focus from the formal structures of addressing the peace building process by tackling the ‘different layers’ that can address tensions on the continent.

The project,  according to the security expert is to look at the contrasting issues between urban and rural settings,  especially in the Upper West, Greater Accra and Ashanti regions, as a basis for discussion and look at the dynamics and the undertones that could trigger conflicts.

Dr Aning said the second phase after the first two-year project would focus on ‘lower people on the social ladder,’ who have the potential to trigger conflict but who are mostly ignored in the ‘equation.’