170 Ghana Police Service staff members leave for South Sudan

The formed police unit (FPU) boarding the plane

170 GHANA POLICE SERVICE STAFF MEMBERS LEAVE FOR SOUTH SUDAN

One hundred and seventy police personnel selected from the Formed Police Unit (FPU) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) have been deployed for United Nation’s (UN) peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. Among them are six officers, including doctors. They would in the main help to protect civilians, sheltering them from violent attacks and also ensure peace and security in South Sudan to help promote the development of that country.

As part of the preparation for the mission, the personnel were taken through public order management, tactical progression and weapon handling. Unlike the usual contingents deployed by the service, the FPU is more concerned with public order management and has more coercive capacity.

The Director-General in charge of police operations, COP John Kudalor, stressed the need for the personnel to exhibit a sense of professionalism and commitment, particularly so because the service could not afford to lower the standard set by Ghana internationally. He said back home, the FPU would be given the needed attention to be prepared to support any country in terms of peace and security.

For his part, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, said the GPS had been participating in the UN mission since 1960 and had served in various areas.

He said for the first time the police administration was deploying the specialised group in order to deal with public disturbances, protect civilians, provide escort duties and help ensure peace in that country. He said the investment in the area of training was high and the service had been battling for a long time due to the required equipment needed in the training.

Notwithstanding the challenges, he said the deployment of the personnel for the UN mission had given the service high recognition internationally. Violence erupted in South Sudan's capital Juba in mid-December 2013 and spread to oil-producing regions and beyond, dividing the four-year-old landlocked country along ethnic lines.

Juba's government forces are battling an armed rebellion by forces. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.6 million driven from their homes in the world's youngest state.

Contributions by the countries to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

Monthly Summary of Contributions (Police, UN Military Experts on Mission & Troops) As of 30 September, 2014
No	Country	Police	UNMEM	Troops	Total
1	Bangladesh	1,317	70	7,391	8,778
2	Pakistan	542	70	7,671	8,283
3	India	999	56	7,053	8,108
4	Ethiopia	33	98	7,677	7,808
5	Rwanda	523	18	5,091	5,632
6	Nepal	776	50	4,382	5,208
7	Nigeria	394	43	2,527	2,964
8	Ghana	167	65	2,689	2,921
9	Senegal	1,050	16	1,761	2,827
10	Egypt	409	74	2,064	2,547
11	Morocco		4	2,314	2,318
12	Tanzania	33	23	2,242	2,298
13	Jordan	1,492	43	746	2,281
14	South Africa	79	19	2,152	2,250
15	China	172	36	1,984	2,192
16	Burkina Faso	300	15	1,669	1,984
17	Niger	109	16	1,736	1,861
18	Indonesia	170	27	1,635	1,832
19	Uruguay	5	11	1,787	1,803
20	Togo	333	15	1,404	1,752
21	Brazil	19	21	1,644	1,684
22	Cameroon	378	7	979	1,364
23	Sri Lanka	52	12	1,226	1,290
24	Benin	138	23	1,092	1,253
25	Burundi	377	12	855	1,244
26	Italy	5	14	1,202	1,221
27	Chad	47	4	1,047	1,098
28	DR Congo	142		837	979
29	France	44	12	883	939
30	Mongolia		10	926	936
31	Congo	133		793	926
32	Malawi	23	14	859	896
33	Kenya	51	24	815	890
34	Malaysia	2	22	850	874
35	Argentina	34	6	823	863
36	Fiji	53	2	641	696
37	Cambodia		9	635	644
38	Republic of Korea	3	16	599	618
39	Netherlands	39	14	552	605
40	Spain	8		590	598
41	Ukraine	83	21	476	580
42	Gabon		1	513	514
43	Chile	9	5	425	439
44	Peru		20	377	397
45	Finland	1	25	353	379
46	Ireland	11	17	334	362
47	Gambia	129	5	217	351
48	Philippines	44	9	295	348
49	Yemen	208	76	23	307
50	Guatemala		10	296	306
51	United Kingdom	5		280	285
52	Guinea	47	12	215	274
53	Japan			271	271
54	Cote d'Ivoire	135		122	257
55	Bolivia		21	211	232
56	Serbia	12	8	197	217
57	Germany	25	12	167	204
58	Austria	1	8	175	184
59	Slovakia	2	2	159	163
60	Paraguay	1	30	131	162
61	Djibouti	160	1		161
62	Turkey	98	2	53	153
63	Mauritania	140	2	7	149
64	Zambia	83	44	14	141
65	Canada	84	13	21	118
66	Tunisia	77	36	3	116
67	Sierra Leone	91	10	13	114
68	United States of America	76	5	32	113
69	Belgium		2	101	103
70	El Salvador	2	9	86	97
71	Russia	29	60	3	92
72	Hungary	1	7	80	88
73	Sweden	37	21	28	86
74	Mali	63	15	2	80
75	Romania	38	37	2	77
76	Namibia	51	16	6	73
77	Norway	24	16	31	71
78	Ecuador		6	56	62
79	Australia	15	18	18	51
80	Zimbabwe	35	13	3	51
81	Bosnia and Herzegovina	45	5		50
82	Honduras		12	38	50
83	Liberia			49	49
84	Portugal	1	1	47	49
85	Greece			48	48
86	Uganda	35	3	4	42
87	Denmark		16	25	41
88	Madagascar	36		1	37
89	Thailand	14	13	7	34
90	Brunei			30	30
91	Switzerland	4	19	6	29
92	Kyrgyzstan	17	8		25
93	Colombia	24			24
94	Slovenia		3	14	17
95	Croatia	4	10	2	16
96	Poland	3	13		16
97	Jamaica	14			14
98	Samoa	14			14
99	Central African Republic	11			11
100	New Zealand		9	1	10
101	Czech Republic		9		9
102	Tajikistan	8			8
103	Moldova		6	1	7
104	Algeria		5		5
105	Estonia		3	2	5
106	Lithuania	4	1		5
107	Vanatu	5			5
108	Montenegro	4			4
109	Albania	3			3
110	Qatar			3	3
111	Timor-Leste		3		3
112	Belarus			2	2
113	Bhutan			2	2
114	Cyprus			2	2
115	Dominican Republic			2	2
116	Grenada	2			2
117	Iran		2		2
118	Kazakhstan		2		2
119	Lesotho		2		2
120	Luxembourg			2	2
121	Palau		1	1	2
122	Vietnam		2		2
123	Armenia			1	1
124	Bulgaria		1		1
125	Guinea-Bissau			1	1
126	Mozambique		1		1
127	Papua New Guinea		1		1
128	The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia			1	1
		Police	UNMEN	Troops
		12516	1757	89911
	Grand Total in PKO	104,184

Ghana To Contribute 850 Troops To South Sudan Peacekeeping Force

GHANA TO CONTRIBUTE 850 TROOPS TO SOUTH SUDAN PEACEKEEPING FORCE

ACCRA, Jan 15 (BERNAMA-NNN- GNA) President John Dramani Mahama has announced Ghana will contribute 850 troops to South Sudan to help restore peace and stability to the country in response to a request from United Nations secretary-general ban Ki-moon.

The president, who announced the deployment of the Ghanaian battalion when Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr Tedros A. Ghebreyesus called on him at his office here Tuesday, indicated that the National Security Council had met on Monday to ratify the troop deployment.

The Ethiopian minister, who discussed issues of common interest and the situation in South Sudan with Mahama, was accompanied by Ghana's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hannah Tetteh, Ghana's Ambassador to Ethiopia Francis Yankey and a 10-member Ethiopian delegation.

Mahama said a decision had been taken to mobilise the 330rd Ghana Battalion currently on peacekeeping duties in Cote d'Ivoire to South Sudan but upon a request from the UN for a fully-fledged battalion, 520 fresh troops and equipment were being mobilised to complement the 330 troops.

"As Ethiopia continues to teleguide the peace process (in South Sudan), we hope that normalcy will return to that country," he said and lauded Ethiopia for the initiative to help restore peace to South Sudan.

President Mahama also reiterated the need for Africa to embark on infrastructural projects that would facilitate the integration agenda, stressing the need for the creation of free trade areas to boost intra-African trade.

Dr.Tedros lauded Ghana for its global peacekeeping missions and indicated that when the Sudan conflict started, Ethiopia proposed a cessation of hostilities, the commencement of political dialogue and the provision of access to facilitate humanitarian efforts.

"The two parties are still meeting in Addis Ababa and they have agreed on a cessation of hostilities and the release of detainees," he said.