Greetings from Ghana (and Obama- but more on that later)!

I am writing this from Accra, where I am currently working with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC). First, a little background on KAIPTC… It was opened in 2004 and has three departments: Peacekeeping Studies, Training and Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution. Peacekeeping Studies hosts regular courses for all personnel that may be involved in peace operations - currently, the Centre is swarming with (mostly West African) police who are completing pre-deployment training for Darfur. The Training department focuses on preparing West African military troops for peacekeeping missions. Finally, there is the Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Department (CPMRD) – the research division and my home for the summer. CPMRD produces papers, training manuals, monographs etc etc on a wide range of conflict related issues- within my office alone, one person is writing about Japanese funding for Small Arms and Light Weapon issues in West Africa and one is examining the value of a gender indicator within regional “early warning” systems. This “think-tank” component actually makes KAIPTC unique amongst the regional training centres…

As an intern, I am expected to complete an occasional paper- on a topic of my choosing – before the end of the summer. If the Dept is sufficiently impressed with the work, the Centre will publish the article. The only requirement is that it be related, in some way, to conflict prevention, conflict management or conflict resolution…. After some initial moments of panic, I decided to look at the provisions made for peacebuilding, and specifically rule of law, within the African Standby Force (ASF). In case you aren’t familiar with it, the ASF is the African Union’s response to the peacekeeping failures/difficulties of the last few decades. Rather than rely on the UN, the AU decided to create its own “standby” peacekeeping force- it will be comprised of civilian units and military brigades from five regions within Africa. It is, in theory, supposed to be up and running by June 2010 and will be capable of deploying a basic force to anywhere in the continent within 2 weeks. Needless to say, the creation of such a body is a hugely ambitious and difficult task- and it isn’t exactly going as smoothly as people may have hoped. The West African regional brigade is by far the most advanced and yet, still faces enormous logistic problems. The issue of getting men and gear in the same place at the same time (and without a solid air support network) is proving tricky…

If the military side looks problematic, the civilian component is even worse- the issue of peacebuilding has definitely taken a back seat to force preparations and is still very much in the draft phases. I think that there are a couple different reasons for this neglect- 1.) the AU and regional bodies are really understaffed (particularly within the civilian sector) and just haven’t been able to address it yet; 2.) the ASF is built upon the premise that the UN will step in after the first few months- and there is some suggestion that the issue of peacebuilding is viewed more as a down the road, UN thing; and 3.) there may be a simple bias in favor of the military. Basically, my paper will argue that the ASF needs to pay a little more attention to civilian peacebuilders and specifically, the area of rule of law. I will attempt to explain why rule of law is a “day 1” issue, rather than something that can be left to the UN in a few months time, and why the military peacekeepers should care about it. I predict that it will be a bestseller.

Overall, it has been an extremely interesting summer. Since I am hugely geeky, I actually enjoy the research component… I want to work in this field after law school and it has been a great opportunity to expand my knowledge and learn from real world practitioners. I have also been able to sit in on a number of courses, like “Integrated Peace Support Operations” and “Conflict Prevention.” It has been fascinating to hear from experts in these areas, past peacekeepers and one celebrity speaker- the SRSG for UNMIL.

The other big news (which I think might be slightly more interesting for most of you than my paper topic) is that I met the Obamas! As you may have seen, President Obama and Co. were in Ghana last weekend- he gave a speech before parliament and visited one of the old slave trading castles. Everyone has been so excited for his visit- his face is plastered on billboards, the local cloth, flags etc. Every other song on the radio has a chorus with his name in it somewhere- and perhaps most entertaining for me, the regular call of “Obruni” (white person) is now often replaced with “Obama.” One of the Course Directors at work is a US Marine and he was able to get me a VIP ticket for the farewell ceremony at the airport. Although the event did involve waiting on the runway for 4 hours, it was totally worth it- I was in the front row (about 15 ft from the President when he spoke), was able to shake hands with both him (twice!) and Michelle and finally, watch Air Force One take off. Yup- it was pretty awesome.

Well, I have bored everyone long enough- good luck to all and I will see you in NY in a few weeks!

Millie

(President Obama at the Farewell Ceremony- I'm somewhere in the middle of that crowd)