UNIFIL Ghanaian peacekeepers recently conducted training exercises for Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) personnel, geared towards fostering cooperation and improving working relations between the two forces, in the south-western Lebanese village of Kfar Dunin.

The three-day training for 19 LAF personnel, delivered by seven Ghanaian peacekeepers from 25 to 27 August, entailed classroom lectures, outdoor physical demonstrations as well as medical exercises.

This training is part of a series of coordinated activities regularly conducted between UNIFIL and LAF personnel with the aim of maintaining stability in south Lebanon as envisaged by UN Security Council resolution 1701.

Such coordinated activities with the LAF represent a key element of UNIFIL’s current mandate, which is essentially drawn from resolution 1701.

During four months alone, between 20 February and 18 June 2021, UNIFIL conducted 233 training sessions with the LAF.

Adopting resolution 2591 earlier this week extending the mission’s mandate for a year, the Security Council requested that UNIFIL take “temporary and special measures” to support the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), including logistical support. It also strongly urged “further and increased international support” for the LAF as well as all state security institutions. It further called on UNIFIL and LAF to strengthen coordinated activities.

(UN Photos / Corporal Aninwaa Lydia - UNIFIL Ghanaian Battalion)