The equipment consisted two SUV Land Cruisers, one armoured personnel carrier, an ambulance, a stand-by generator, a water purification machine, one large tent, and two boxes of spare parts for the equipment.

Mr Robert Jackson, the US Ambassador, made the donation and said the US Government valued its relationship with Ghana and looked forward to strengthening it. “Together we can strengthen the capabilities of the Ghana Police Service so the Service can plan, manage, deploy and sustain its police peace keepers,” he said.

Mr Jackson said since 2014, the US and Ghana had worked side by side to enhance the capacity of the Ghana Police Service to perform their services efficiently and deploy well trained personnel to UN peacekeeping missions.

He said whilst peacekeeping was of immense importance, peacekeepers often faced a number of challenges.  Mr Jackson said meeting those challenges required the troops to perform their peacekeeping duties at the highest levels of operational duties. He stressed that the US strongly supported the UN Secretary General’s call for action to root out sexual exploitation and abuse within the UN System.

“While most peacekeepers serve with honour the predatory behaviour of a few against vulnerable people discredits those who are serving with distinction in international missions around the world. It undermines the trust that is essential to their success,” the US Ambassador said.

He said the US Government recognised the actions that the Ghana Police Service had taken to investigate and address recent allegations against members of a Ghanaian Formed Police Unit in South Sudan.

“We hope that, in accordance with the rule of law, the UN and Ghana will complete a thorough investigation and hold perpetrators to account,” he said. Mr Jackson expressed the hope that Ghana would continue to be an example for all contributing countries with respect to police deployments to peacekeeping missions.

Mr David Asante-Apeatu, the Inspector General of Police, who received the equipment, said the donation was part of an agreement between the Ghana and US governments signed in September 2015. He said the agreement was to foster deep-rooted security sector governance in Ghana, assist in equipping and training of peacekeepers and police officers in general to provide excellent support to conflict recovering communities.

The IGP added that since the agreement, the US Government had continuously supported the Police Service by providing training and equipping especially the FPU.Mr Asante-Apeatu said the training had enriched the skills and knowledge of the front-line police officers in public order management, protection of civilians and best practices in law enforcement.

He said the beneficiaries of such donations by the US, who were deployed to peacekeeping missions, were, so far, rated as the best among their peers in the international arena.  The IGP gave the assurance that the Service would honour its part of the agreement by using the equipment for their intended purposes.

In addition to the equipment, the US Government has also sent an International Police Peacekeeping Operations Support Official, currently attached to the US Embassy, to support the training of the next batch of FPUs to be deployed to South Sudan.