Ghana’s independence monument in Accra, bearing the words Freedom and Justice

Addressing this year’s summit of the African Union, held in Accra earlier this year, President Kufuor reminded delegates of the statement by Ghana’s founding president, Kwame Nkrumah, that the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless it was linked up with the total liberation of Africa. “With that statement, he linked this country’s destiny irrevocably to that of the continent,” he said.

As the current chairman of the AU, Mr Kufuor has declared Ghana’s readiness “to work with the rest of the continent to develop Africa and its people to gain a respectable and dignified place in the mainstream of the emerging global village.”

Ghana has renewed its pledge to work with the rest of the continent in pursuit of the New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) initiative approved by the AU, and towards the eventual establishment of union government for the whole continent. “The task before us is enormous but exciting,” President Kufuor told delegates. “We are at the crossroads, and at the same time the threshold, of a new era, with great opportunities but also many challenges and responsibilities for Africa.”

Ghana is a strong supporter of regional integration, which it promotes through its membership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – currently moving towards economic integration – and the West African Monetary Zone, which plans to introduce a common currency by the end of 2009.

It is also an active member of the United Nations and took a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in January 2006. Kofi Annan, the Ghanaian who served as the UN’s seventh Secretary-General, from 1997 to 2006, returned to a hero's welcome in his native country in January this year.

Kofi Annan Former Secretary-General of the United Nations

Ghana is at the forefront of economic reform and democratisation in Africa and has resolved to entrench democracy and good governance, not only at home but in other African states as well. It was the first country to submit to the NEPAD-inspired African Peer Review Mechanism and to draw up a plan of action to bolster its governance systems. A total of 26 countries, representing 74 per cent of the African population, have now acceded to the initiative.

Vice-President Aliu Mahama says Ghana is a shining example in Africa. “Ghana shows that democracy can work. The country has been through four elections, always smoothly. Powers are well differentiated and responsibilities do not overlap. Ghana has become a country of freedoms.”

The World Bank agrees that Ghana plays a key role in the sub-region and at the regional level. “Ghana provides an example of successful political and economic performance in West Africa, a region that includes a number of countries that have experienced violent conflicts.”

Committed to a policy of good neighbourliness and friendly relations with all states regardless of ideology, Ghana is often seen as an oasis of peace. It also stands out for the long and distinguished role it has played in international peacekeeping. President Kufuor has played a leading role in mediating in regional conflicts, including those in Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire.

Ghanaian forces taking part in peace missions have been widely praised for their professionalism. Starting with their participation in the UN operation in the Congo in the early 1960s and extending to ongoing peace missions in Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Lebanon,Ghanaian troops have contributed to conflict resolution missions around the world – in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, as well as Africa.

Ghana is among the top ten contributors to United Nations peacekeeping forces and its troops have served in 29 UN missions. It also contributes troops to ECOMOG, a non-standing regional peacekeeping force formed by member countries of ECOWAS from units of their national armed forces, which since its formation in 1990 has intervened to resolve conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau.

In addition, Ghana has taken a lead role in supporting the African Crisis Response Initiative, a US initiative that seeks to promote peace and stability on the continent.

In 2004, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre was opened in Ghana to provide training to meet the changing demands of peacekeeping in the West African sub-region and, indeed, the continent. The centre aims to develop into a world-class education, training and research facility, embracing all aspects of peace operations.