• By Ghana hosting the conference, Duale said it was an appreciation of Africa’s contribution to the enhancement of international peace and security.
•The last virtual Conference was held in December 2021 in Seoul, South Korea.
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The government has continued to strengthen its commitment to peacekeeping matters.
Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Wednesday said that Kenya remains committed to pursuing regional and international peace and security through its participation in United Nations and regional peace support mechanisms.
He noted that Kenya's actions are guided by the principles laid out in the United Nations Charter and the African Union (AU) Constitutive Act.
Duale who was in Ghana also highlighted that Kenya is revamping its Peace Support Operations (PSO) capacity by allocating resources as envisioned in our newly formulated National Peace Support Operations Policy which provides for the establishment of a Peace Operations Fund.
" This intervention will contribute towards peacekeepers’ capacity enhancement as well as equipping them to achieve the required performance standards," he said.
The CS was speaking during the 2023 Peacekeeping Ministerial Conference (PMC) in Ghana which was the fifth of the United Nations but the first one to be held in Africa.
Ghana hosting the conference, Duale said, was an appreciation of Africa’s contribution to the enhancement of international peace and security.
"It is worth noting that, the late Kofi Annan, a globally respected diplomat and the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations was a son of this great Nation," he said.
The last virtual Conference was held in December 2021 in Seoul, South Korea.
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Going on, Duale highlighted that the conference provided an important opportunity to reflect on capability and capacity gaps in the peacekeeping system.
This is with a view of generating fresh insights on how current and future peace support operations may be strengthened.
"For this reason, it is essential for this Conference to frame the issues around the seven priority areas mentioned in the Secretary General’s Action for Peacekeeping Priorities (A4P+)," Duale said.
The issues include capabilities and mindset needed, accountability, improvement of strategic communications, the establishment of robust partnerships, and recognizing the role of women in peace and security in addition to modalities of sustaining peace.
According to Duale, the above considerations and others have the ultimate goal of transforming peacekeeping by ensuring high performance and delivery of specialized capabilities, in tandem with the demands of the contemporary peace support environment.
He however noted that despite the progress achieved in PSO, the security challenges facing the global community are enormous and rapidly evolving.
"For instance, the political and security environment has deteriorated recently resulting in humanitarian crises exacerbated by issues associated with weaknesses in the protection of civilians as evidenced in conflict situations in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and various parts of Africa to name but a few," Duale explained.
In light of these concerns, the CS emphasised that there is a need to reconfigure UN missions to adopt a streamlined approach to ensure mandate delivery by equipping peacekeepers with the most appropriate capabilities.
The UN Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting attracted more than 85 countries and international organizations for the two-day event which ended
The Ministerial seeks to secure vital political support and concrete commitments to strengthen UN Peacekeeping efforts to meet current and future challenges and needs, in line with ongoing reform under Action for Peacekeeping and the A4P+ implementation plan.
According to the UN, this year's event focused on crucial issues such as advancing sustainable peace, protection of civilians, strategic communications, and improving the safety and mental health of peacekeepers.
Member States and the UN will also work together to improve the environmental management of our operations and deploy more women peacekeepers to ensure more diverse and inclusive operations.
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