Following a week’s tour of Brazzaville in Congo as part of its study mission in Africa, the EIFORCES delegation led by Brigadier General BITOTE André Patrice headed for Ottawa in Canada.
For the 9th Higher Degree of Security Studies (BESS 9) auditors, Canada is a country of great pedagogical interest. Indeed, as one of the most industrialised countries in the world, Canada has long been renowned for the effectiveness, relevance and originality of its responses to security issues faced. The liveliness of its responses to new threats to global security and the organisation and originality of its security system, which shines through its non-alignment (neither Anglophone nor Francophone), provide food for thought for the future members of the brain trust of the six African countries represented in the BESS 9 promotion.
At the same time, Canada has made -and continues to make- its mark on the history of peacekeeping around the world. The country was among the first to provide blue helmets to ensure security and peace outside its territory, and has taken part in the training of many peacekeepers around the world. Its commitment to the fight against human rights violations, its efforts to preserve the environment and the production of a decentralisation model that inspires many countries are also worthy of note.
These points of fact were blithely taken from the meeting which the EIFORCES delegation held with the Chargé d’Affaires at the Cameroonian High Commission in Canada, Mr Philippe FOUDA TSILLA, at High Commission of Cameroon in Ottawa.
This meeting kicked off the BESS 9 study week in ‘the Land of Maple Leaf’, which is due to continue with meetings with security stakeholders, including the Ministry of Public Safety, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Gatineau Municipal Police, the Ottawa Municipal Police, the Peace Support Training Centre in Kingston, and sightseeing./-