“The Africa Logistics Forum is an example of how the United States can support African Nations to examine and explore continuing logistics challenges in Africa’s security sector,” said U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Robert P. Jackson.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Africa Logistics Forum in Accra, recently, the Ambassador noted, “the forum focuses on analyzing the existing logistic gaps, explores practical applications, and surveys sound principles for effective logistics management.”
The United States, he said, “continues to recognize the importance of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre. The Centre’s mission—to provide training, education and research to foster peace and stability in Africa— is vital and has impact on real lives throughout Africa.”
The Centre has already trained more than 11,000 people from diverse organizations in essential aspects of peacekeeping operations.
“The United States’ main objective,” said Ambassador Jackson, “is to support African Nations with all required assistance. It is imperative to have experienced personnel with the right equipment and training if we are to overcome the logistical obstacles we face in garrison, operational or tactical environments.”
“Our Ghanaian partners have been a major contributor to the United Nation’s peacekeeping operations,” he said, “supplying more than 3,000 personnel, including police, military observers and troops in the past eight years.”
“Exercises— such as the Logistics Peacekeeping Operations and the African Deployment Assistance Partnership Team conducted in Ghana, Togo and Benin in the last two years—have been essential for training logistical units and personnel.”
The Logistics Peacekeeping Operations is a training event focused on logistics before, during and after peacekeeping operations. This exercise covered sustainment principals including preventive maintenance checks and services, subsistence and field feeding, general supply, transportation and distribution, as well as logistical estimates.
In addition, the African Deployment Assistance Partnership Team bridges the gap between limited deployment capacity to participating nations in peacekeeping operations, humanitarian response operations and contingency operations.
Ambassador Jackson told the forum participants that the United States and the nations of Africa share a common destiny.
“I am confident,” he said, “that work like yours will allow us to marshal the tools necessary to craft partnerships and, as Kofi Annan said, to face our goals together.”
