Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana are hosting a joint military exercise involving 1,300 personnel from 36 countries with the goal of enhanc¬ing the capacity of regional forces to collectively counter violent extremism groups and protect their citizens.
Code-named “Ex¬ercise Flintlock 24”, the participants are drawn from Togo, Burki¬na Faso, Tunisia, Norway, Denmark, United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom among others to undergo different training modules till May 24, this year. The exercise, which was introduced in 2005, is conducted under the U.S. Special Operations Com¬mand Africa (SOCAF), and designed to strengthen collective security, reinforce military bonds and trust of the civilian populace, and augment the tactics, proce¬dures, and skillsets of regional partners. Local media reports on Tuesday in Accra, stated that Ghana is co-hosting the exercise for the second consecutive time with training locations, including Accra in the Greater Accra Region, Tamale, Northern Region and Da¬mongo in the Savannah Region. The Director of Operations at the SOCAF, Captain Scott Fentresss, said during the opening ceremony in Accra on Monday that the exercise represented a comprehensive, mul¬tinational approach to bolstering security across Africa as it brings together international partners to jointly tackle security challenges on the continent. According to him, it embodies an “Afri¬can-led, partner-enabled” strategy, fostering critical partnerships and interoperability with Ghana’s role as co-host highlighting its leader¬ship among African nations and robust partnership with the US. He explained that no single country can solve Africa’s complex security threats alone, hence the need for the collaboration. He added that with global stability linked to a prosper¬ous Africa, the exercise exemplifies the collective commitment to that goal through collaboration.
In his remarks, the Deputy Chief Staff Officer at the Ghana Armed Forces’ Head¬quarters, Brigadier General Kweku Darkwa Hagan, said that the exercise would help nations to talk, coordi¬nate and cooperate in combating these worldwide security challenges that no single country could tackle alone. While attributing the hosting of the special operations exercise in Afri¬ca for the second consecutive year by Ghana to the healthy and enduring partnership between Ghana and the US, he expressed his gratitude to the partners for selecting Ghana for the exercise. GIK/APA