On the sidelines of the 12th African Security Symposium (ASEC 2025), the Acting Commandant of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Air Commodore David Anetey Akrong, reaffirmed the Centre’s partnership with the African Union (AU) in advancing continental peace and security.
Air Commodore Akrong, who chaired this year’s ASEC in Addis Ababa from 10–12 June, paid a courtesy call on the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (DPAPS), His Excellency Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, at the AU Headquarters. He was accompanied by Dr John Pokoo, Head of KAIPTC’s Conflict Management Programme.
Discussions centered on deepening collaboration between KAIPTC and DPAPS, underpinned by a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2017. The Acting Commandant highlighted KAIPTC’s new strategic priorities, which place technology and security innovation at the heart of the Centre’s future programming. He also extended an invitation to the Commissioner to attend the 2025 Challenges Forum, scheduled to take place in Accra from 14–16 October.
Ambassador Adeoye welcomed the engagement and underscored the AU’s commitment to broadening its cooperation with KAIPTC and other African training institutions. He emphasised the importance of integrating women and youth in peace processes, particularly in election observation. As part of this agenda, he announced a specialised training programme on “Women and Youth in Election Observation”, to be hosted at KAIPTC from 21–25 July 2025 in partnership with the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA). He also pledged that Accra would remain a hub for similar AU-led training in the future.
The Commissioner further called for greater attention to the role of technology in peace and security, citing the AU’s establishment of a continental expert group on technology to guide policy and practice. He urged KAIPTC to continue prioritising emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and cyber security.
In response, Air Commodore Akrong echoed the importance of elevating women and youth engagement from project-level initiatives to core institutional priorities, while affirming KAIPTC’s readiness to contribute to AU initiatives. He cited ongoing participation in key AU mechanisms such as the African Network of Think Tanks for Peace (NeTT4Peace), the Silencing the Guns expert group, and the task force designing the African Disarmament Fellowship Programme, in which KAIPTC is represented by Dr Pokoo.
With ASEC 2025 bringing together public and private security actors, the meeting between KAIPTC and the AU Commissioner reinforced the Centre’s role as a trusted partner in shaping Africa’s collective responses to evolving peace and security challenges.