He said the role of the political advisor in a mission was critical for providing the mission leadership with proper analysis of political developments, trends and emerging issues in the country or region and making recommendations on possible policies, strategies and other measures to address issues of concern.

AVM Griffiths said this on Monday at the opening of the Political Advisor Course for Peace Support Operations in Africa at the KAIPTC in Accra.

The two-week programme is being organised by the KAIPTC collaboration with the Austrian’s Ministry of Defence.

The course was developed by the KAIPTC in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry of Defence.

It is being attended by 27 participants drawn from Ghana, Austria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Yemen.

AVM Griffiths noted that the West African sub-region, and the African Continent, as a whole had witnessed a surge in international efforts to end wars, stabilise fragile states, and rebuild war-torn societies.

He said an unprecedented number of peace operations and political missions had been deployed to deal with crises and violent conflicts, and to maintain or restore peace.

He said the course would enable participants to deliberate on matters as diverse and yet inextricably interrelated as the Role of a Political Advisor, Negotiation and Mediation Principles, Reporting, Briefing and Public Diplomacy as well as dealing with the media.

“We all unanimously agree that peace is a critical pre-requisite for national, regional and global development,” he stated.

“The vacuum created by the absence of peace enables discord and anarchy to prevail, and these results in corresponding stagnation and devastation of societies,” he added.

He said it was for this reason that the course was being organised to formalise training of Political Advisors for Commanders of Operations and/or Heads of Missions of UN/AU/ECOWAS missions.

He said the course would equip the participants to equip with the necessary tools to enable them to function effectively and efficiently in their current or future roles as Political Advisors; adding that it would expose them to internationally-required competencies and standards for Political Advisors.

AVM Griffiths said the course would also enable the participants to better understand the dynamics of conflict and crises management in order to function effectively in multi-dimensional Peace Support Operations.

The Commandant expressed gratitude to the Austrian Ministry of Defence for the initiative to bring the course to KAIPTC and for the generous support to their joint effort to strengthening peace and security in Africa.

Mag. Guenther Barnet, Representative from the Austrian Ministry of Defence, said Austria and Ghana share a common interest in peace and security and also in development.

  He said both nations were developing bilateral military cooperation between their armed forces on different topics.

On the Political Advisor Course, Mr Barnet said: “Political Advising is the art of art. Politics itself is an art and advising someone on how and what to do is the art of the art. It needs special skills and technics. It needs good manners. It needs strategic patience and it needs a lot of other values.”

“It is a very useful tool for people working in missions and operations in advising their commanders, in advising their special representatives on what they should also think before they act.”