Ghana Armed Forces’ Contributions to African-Led Peace Support Operations from 1990-2020

Abstract

Ghana’s role in African-led peace support operations (pso) is best situated within the first Economic Community of West African States Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ecomog) mission deployed in 1990 to Liberia. Ghana, and Nigeria, spearheaded this initiative at a time when regional interventions in intra-state conflicts had not been properly elaborated and UN collaboration with regional organizations in conflict interventions were underdeveloped. Through its multiple expanded contributions in Sierra Leone, La Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Gambia, Ghana’s experiences provide critical and important cognitive lessons in how a resource constrained state adapted to the changing operational environments of pso s. This paper explores Ghana’s contributions to ecowas pso s and argues that Ghana, though not a hegemon, has been a driving force behind some ecowas pso s. It argues that participation in pso s have provided opportunities through which Ghana has demonstrated and enhanced its influence and agency in regional affairs and the international system.