Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre

To build and share Ghana's five decades of experience and competence in peace support operations, the Ministry of Defence, in May 1998, approved plans for the establishment of an International Peacekeeping Training Centre. The Centre was envisaged to address not only Ghana's needs for training men and women to meet the changing demands of complex and multidimensional peacekeeping activities, but also to help meet the peacekeeping training requirements of the West African subregion and indeed, the continent. On August 02, 2000, UN Secretary-General H.E. Kofi Annan 'cut the sod' for work to start on the building of the KAIPTC at its present location in Teshie, Accra. After the inauguration of the Centre, Mr. Kofi Annan presented personal mementos to the Centre including a number of plaques he had received from troop-contributing countries during his tenure as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, which are today proudly displayed at the KAIPTC. H.E. Kofi Annan expressed the following during the commissioning of the centre: “The United Nations is deeply grateful to the Government of Ghana, Armed Forces and Police for their four-decade long commitment to UN peacekeeping operations around the world. The record of service and achievement has laid the foundation for the commission of the International Peacekeeping Training Centre that we mark today. The Ghana Armed Forces' remarkable knowledge base, expertise and experience must be placed at the disposal of as many national armed forces, sub-regionally and continent-wide, as possible. Africa needs well-trained and well-equipped peacekeepers to meet the challenge of the crises facing our continent."