Former President Ernest Bai Koroma is in Ghana to attend a meeting on peace and security in Africa.
Koroma will be among other former leaders of the continent at the maiden edition of the Kofi Annan Peace and Security (KAPS) Forum, organized by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC), in collaboration with the Federal Government of Germany and the Government of Norway.
The forum is being convened on the theme: “Peace Operations in the Context of Violent Extremism in Africa.”
According to a statement from the office of the former Sierra Leonean leader announcing his invitation to the program, the organisers extended the invitation to Koroma for his “critical role” played in bringing peace, stability and democracy to Sierra Leone and the wider West Africa region. The statement added that the orgnizers wanted Koroma to share his rich insights and perspectives with the audience.
Koroma, in office from 2007 to 2018, inherited a country just out of eleven years civil war. Under his reign, Sierra Leone at some point was host to the largest United Nations Peace Building Mission.
The KAPS Forum, slated for 4-5 September, is being convened under the chairmanship of Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).
Officials say over 200 high-level delegates are billed to attend.
Koroma will share a panel with former Burundi President Pierre Buyoya, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is currently the African Union’s High Representative to Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL).
Also on Koroma’s panel will be former Central African Republic President Catharine Samba-Panza, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor, and John Dramani Mahama of the host country Ghana.
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