The French Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Mr Jules-Armand Aniambossou, closed the 36th session of the Joint Campaign Planning Course at the Kofi Annan International Peace Training Centre (KAIPTC) on Friday 20 October.

Organised and funded by the French government, the course was attended by 16 officers of 12 different nationalities from ECOWAS, ECCAS and SDAC from 9 to 20 October 2023.

During the ceremony, the French Ambassador to Ghana recalled that this training was a privileged moment during which these officers had the opportunity to develop their capacity to work together and to strengthen their links with regional partners in the service of greater interoperability. He particularly appreciated the participation of officers from all over Africa, from Dakar to Antananarivo, via Luanda and N’Djamena.

Since 2003, the JCP has been an integral part of African armies’ drive to improve their officers’ skills in terms of planning and staff techniques.

In line with France’s new policy in Africa, which is to develop a partnership of equals with our African partners and provide support to meet their needs, the course is taught by African instructors for the benefit of African officers. Thus, since 2022, the training has been provided by two qualified officers from the Ecole Supérieure Internationale de Guerre de Yaoundé (ESIG), seconded specifically for this course. Similarly, the Global Operational Planning Method (GOPM), which is the teaching reference for this course, is the method used and taught at the ESIG.

The main objective of the JCP is to enable staff officers to respond to security issues, particularly when engaged in peacekeeping operations. They will then be confronted with complex situations in which they will have to be ready to meet the challenges presented.

The JCP takes place in two phases over a two-week period. The first week is devoted to acquiring theoretical knowledge (general knowledge, staff techniques, teaching of the GOPM) and learning the GOPM through an educational planning exercise. The second week is devoted to carrying out an exercise that takes the trainees through all the stages of operational planning, right up to the decision brief stage.

By funding this course for the past 20 years, France wishes to make an active contribution to the fight against all forms of threat, and aims to help its partners on the African continent to deal with them. The organisation of this course in French and in Ghana within the KAIPTC is emblematic of our desire to support regional integration initiatives in the field of security.