Assistance for police work in Africa
A key factor in the success of African peace missions is the availability of well-trained personnel. To help create such a pool for the police sector, assistance is being provided to police forces in post-conflict countries in cooperation with the international peace missions deployed there.
Police forces in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Burundi, DR Congo, Sudan, Central African Republic and Rwanda are being helped to function more effectively in close collaboration with the police components of the UN and EU missions deployed in these countries.
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Police Academy in Monrovia, Liberia
(© Federal Foreign Office)
Since minor conflicts on national borders can quickly escalate and even lead to war, cross-border police cooperation is of particular importance. In conjunction with international and African partners, the German Government is supporting such cooperation in the field of police infrastructure, training in various types of crime and crime analysis. In this area, too, training is provided in important skills that are required also for service with peace missions.
The German government and Interpol are co-sponsoring a cross-border police cooperation project (infrastructure, training, joint operations) under the OASIS Africa programme. All African countries are members of Interpol and can participate in this programme.
Ideally the initiative for such projects will come from Africa itself. In partnership with the South African Institute for Security Studies (ISS) a number of joint cross-border police cooperation projects have been initiated in the field of environmental crime, organized crime, livestock theft and crime research.
Source: Federal Foreign Office
