CDA a.i. Speech for the Global Peace Operations Initiative Memorandum of Understanding Signing Ceremony
31 August 2021
Your excellence !
It is my honor to welcome you to the Embassy of the United States. We are here today to celebrate the formalization of the partnership between the United States of America and the Republic of Chad for the Global Peace Operations Initiative. The Global Peace Operations Initiative, or GPOI, is a program intended to build the capacity of our partners to conduct peace support operations. I am proud to say that the United States and Chad have been partners in this endeavor since 2017.
GPOI is a United States security assistance program that has focused since 2005 on building international peacekeeping capacity. The program enables countries to deploy peacekeepers around the world; to date, the Global Peace Operations Initiative has facilitated the deployment of over 200,000 peacekeepers from 36 countries to 21 peacekeeping operations around the world.
Chad is one of GPOI’s newest partners. Over the past four years of our partnership, GPOI support to Chad has included training, equipment, and facilities capacity building support. Under the GPOI partnership with Chad, we have conducted Train-the-Trainer activities for the training cadre of the Loumia Center of Instruction and pre-deployment training for MINUSMA contingents. We have provided facilities support to the Loumia Center of Instruction, which was used until recently as the Chadian Peace Mission Training Center. We have also provided equipment for the health and welfare of the soldiers such as tents, cots, and mosquito nets, as well as military equipment such as first aid, weapons cleaning, and maintenance tool kits.
The United States maintains four objectives for the GPOI program in Chad. Firstly, we aim to enhance Chad’s self-sufficiency in peacekeeping pre-deployment training. Secondly, we hope to support Chad in improving operational readiness to sustain units in peace operations. Thirdly, we desire to provide a high-quality training environment through infrastructure improvements to the Chadian Peace Mission Training Center. And finally, we intend to work with Chad to increase the participation of women in peacekeeping activities.
The government of the United States sincerely appreciates Chad’s commitment to the promotion of peace, recognizing that this commitment has come at a high cost. The United States salutes the ultimate sacrifice made by Chadian soldiers in the pursuit of peace – there have been 82 Chadian fatalities during participation in UN missions. Seventy-two of these casualties occurred in MINUSMA, widely recognized as the UN’s most dangerous peacekeeping mission. On behalf of the American people, I wish to convey our most sincere condolences for the loss of these valiant soldiers and to express my most fervent support for all the efforts made by the people of Chad in pursuit of peace. As represented in the Memorandum of Understanding that we sign today, the United States is your partner in the Global Peace Operations Initiative. Accordingly, we intend to provide the best training and support we can, to ensure Chadian soldiers and units are prepared for peacekeeping missions. We will continue to walk hand in hand with you as we work together to achieve our shared goal – peace.
Thank you!