By: Kobina Baidoo
Representative of the United States of America at the United Nations(UN), Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield has declared Africa as a continent endowed with numerous peacekeepers.
Speaking as a panelist at the 2023 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Conference in Accra, on Tuesday, At the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Center, she submitted that all across Africa are states and nations that invest heavily into making and maintaining peace.
She highlighted that majority of peace keeping organizations worldwide are African peace keeping organizations, adding that individuals who are deployed into conflict zones as peace keepers are usually from Africa.
This, she said has trademarked Africa as a passionate peacekeeping continent. “Many peace keeping operations across the world are African peace keepers; we are aware of Africa’s capability to enforce peace within the continent and outside as well.”
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield assured Africa of full support and commitment from the United Nations (UN) to Africa which would be channeled through partnerships with Ghana, and other members of the UN security council to enhance efforts of African organizations like the African Union (AU) in intensifying peace keeping efforts. “We are working closely with Ghana and other countries in the security council to come up with a resolution that will support AU peace keeping; provide reliable funding for the AU, reliable support from the United Nations that might be support with logistics and equipment; capacity building for AU troupes and this is something that we are permitted to seeing come to fruition.”
The 2023 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Conference in Accra is a two day ministerial conference which centers on the protection of civilians, safety, and security, the mental health of peace keepers and women in peacekeeping, as well as misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, as the Head of Delegation at the conference, sets a new pace regarding support from the United States to strengthen UN Peacekeeping operations, including support to African countries.
