ADF

ADF STAFF Ghanaian leaders hailed the importance of military education and training as classes have commenced at a new war college and plans are underway to establish a full university system. President Nana Akufo-Addo laid out his vision for the National Defence University during his address at a November 17, 2023, graduation parade at the Ghana Military Academy (GMA) in Teshie, Accra. “The university will be a multidisciplinary higher education institution that would educate personnel of the armed forces, other security agencies, governmental departments and agencies, and foreign military personnel,” he said. The university, he said, will offer an overarching…

UNITED NATIONS The United States representative to the United Nations has announced a pledge of $3 million to support a body armor pilot program for women.  Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield joined partners from Ghana, the Netherlands and Zambia to support this first-of-its-kind project intended to address inadequate personal protective equipment provided for female peacekeepers and increase their ability to meaningfully participate in peacekeeping missions. “One major barrier for entry? The ‘unisex’ personal protective equipment that simply doesn’t fit women peacekeepers,” she said.  Women-specific body armor features a tailored cut, rounded chest, shortened torso and adjustable back that provides better coverage of…

ADF STAFF The United Nations has opened a Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) facility for peacekeepers at its regional service center in Entebbe, Uganda. It is the first of its kind in Africa. The facility is part of the U.N. Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Academy for Peace Operations. Instructors lead the facility’s online classes. The Observer of Uganda reported that the facility “allows real-time collaboration and offers accessibility to subject matter experts, creates an immersive learning experience, enables tracking and measurement of success, reduces costs, and increases training capacity.” A C4ISR system can include an online…

UNITED NATIONS For more than a year, a group of United Nations peacekeepers from Ghana led by Capt. Esinam Baah regularly patrolled the “blue line,” or the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel. They visited neighborhoods in the area, checking in with families to make sure they were safe. In 2022, Baah was one of the 173 Ghanaian female peacekeepers who served in the U.N. Interim Mission in Lebanon. She also was one of the 6,200 uniformed female peacekeepers — military and police personnel — serving in the world’s 12 peacekeeping missions. These women often are seen as a beacon…

UNITED NATIONS The transition to renewable energy in United Nations peacekeeping missions helps ensure the safety and security of uniformed personnel serving in the field, U.N. officials say. Speaking at the 2023 U.N. Peacekeeping Ministerial conference in Accra, Ghana, Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare said the shift to green energy in the field “is not just about environmental footprint,” as it helps to protect peacekeepers by reducing the need to transport fuel on dangerous roads. With proper energy management, operational resilience to withstand fuel shortages also is increased, meaning that missions can run core infrastructure even when fuel supplies cannot be delivered.…

The national police commissioner of South Africa hosted the commissioner of the Angola National Police on a seven-day working visit in January 2024. Angola’s police force wanted to share insight and knowledge on how the South African Police Service prevents and tackles transnational organized crime and emerging threats. South African Gen. Fannie Masemola hosted the delegation led by Angola National Police Commissioner Gen. Arnaldo Manuel Carlos. The visit is a continuation of a longstanding partnership that was fostered in 2017. The two police agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance working relations to prevent and combat cross-border crimes such…

Defenceweb Uganda has entered a military cooperation agreement with a country that it shares no border with — the Central African Republic. Ugandan Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs Vincent Ssempijja was reported by the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces as saying a memorandum of understanding has reiterated his country’s commitment to a Central African Republic military partnership. “Uganda has always been committed to promoting peace and stability in the region, and we strongly believe the best way to achieve this is through cooperation and collaboration with our neighbors,” he said after the signing in Kampala. “Our defense partnership with CAR…

ADF staff As part of what is being called a new generation of peacekeeping missions, the United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution to help fund African Union-led peace support operations. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has endorsed the decision. On social media, he called the vote a “groundbreaking resolution” that will help address a “critical gap in the international peace and security architecture.” The U.N. issued a December 22, 2023, statement saying that, “Since the start of his mandate, the Secretary-General has repeatedly called for a new generation of Peace Support Operations led by African partners, with guaranteed…

ADF STAFF More than 4,000 years ago, the pharaohs of Egypt established a trading partnership with the prosperous Land of Punt. The Egyptians kept the location of the kingdom a secret. They would travel vast distances on land and sea to trade with the country, which they regarded as Ta Netjer — God’s Land. The earliest known direct references to Punt come from the Palmero Stone, a tablet that contains accounts of the ancient Egyptian dynasties. The stone’s inscriptions say that during the reign of King Sahure, about 2450 B.C., traders led a profitable expedition to Punt, returning with myrrh,…

CLUES The Roman Emperor Trajan established this ancient city as a military colony in A.D. 100. It is laid out with precision, illustrating the skill of Roman urban planning. Buildings and homes were built entirely of stone, and streets were paved with large, rectangular limestone slabs. Early Arab conquests in the seventh century destroyed the city, which was not inhabited after the eighth century. ANSWER  Timgad (Colonia Marciana Traiana Thamugadi), Algeria