ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) Police And Military Personnel Complete Training in Explosives Detection and Disposal Level 2 (EOD2)

On Thursday November 14, 2024, at the “Centre de perfectionnement aux actions post-conflictuelles de déminage et de dépollution (CPADD)” located in Ouidah, Benin, a ceremony was held to award certificates to the English-speaking trainees of the Training Course In Explosive Ordnance Disposal Level 2 (EOD 2).

Started on September 23, 2024 for eight weeks, this session financed by the ECOWAS Commission via the Small Arms Division of the Political Affairs Peace and Security Department mobilized trainees from Ghana (1), Guinea Bissau (1), Nigeria (5), Sierra Leone (4) and Gambia (3). The training included theoretical and practical courses.

The closing ceremony was presided over by the representative of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Benin, Colonel Vincent Tomety, and was attended by CPADD staff, training graduates, Lieutenant-Colonel Djimon Sahgui, Director of CPADD, and the Police Commissioner for the town of Ouidah. The Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, was represented by the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Benin, H.E. Amadou Diongue, who delivered a speech on his behalf.

At the ceremony, the Director of CPADD, Lieutenant-Colonel Djimon SAHGUI, expressed his gratitude to ECOWAS for its support of the Centre, and renewed CPADD’s plea for recognition of CAPDD as an ECOWAS Centre of Excellence.

Following Lieutenant-Colonel Djimon SAHGUI, the spokesman for this cohort of trainees delivered his words of thanks and commitment.

In his speech, the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Benin, H.E. Amadou Diongue, congratulated all the trainees on their remarkable commitment at a time when our region is facing the threat of terrorism. He also congratulated the CPADD on the training mission it has successfully accomplished since its creation.