The Anatomy of Ghanaian Domestic Military Operations: Exploring Operations Vanguard and Calm Life

Abstract

This article focuses on the under-researched and under-discussed domestic security implications in Ghana of military participation in international peacekeeping operations. While there is appreciable awareness and knowledge of the role of peacekeepers in reducing conflict in host countries, very little attention is given to their actions when they return home. The money, training and combat experience emanating from peacekeeping are likely to have considerable institutional, policy, operational (tactics, techniques and procedures) and political consequences in their home countries. In Ghana, especially, peacekeeping training and combat experience provide tools that can be used for internal security interventions. Increasingly, there has been a change in policy in Ghana where the military is involved in several local security operations. This policy shift has seen the creation of a number of joint internal operations involving the military and the police. Based on fieldwork in Ghana, the article explores two major internal operations: Operation Calm Life (to combat armed robbery) and Operation Vanguard (to combat illegal mining). The study shows how diverse dimensions of experience from peacekeeping have practical implications for shaping domestic security provision.

Domestic Peacekeeping Practices in the Tamale Metropolis

“…These experiences, as assembled, arose from the amalgamation of home-grown and international peacekeeping theatres, which partially prevent the escalation of disputes into violent conflicts (Interview, military officer, Tamale, Aug 2019). In some cases, when disputes degenerate into violent conflict, codeployment of the military with police officers helps to reduce the number of potential casualties (see Edu-Afful, 2022). One security analyst spoke positively about military-police collaboration in Tamale:…”

Assembling UN Peacekeeping and Counterterrorism in Ghana

“…In proposing that peacekeeping experiences may have a positive influence on preventive counterterrorism measures, the article contributes to this handful of studies (Dwyer, 2015;Harig, 2015;Levine, 2016;Saati & Wimelius, 2017) which have illuminated how operational tasks from various multinational missions inform internal security operations at home. Focusing on the unanticipated impacts of peacekeeping participation on domestic security dynamics they -together with the other articles in this special issue -address an empirical gap in the literature (see Albrecht, 2022aAlbrecht, , 2022bAbdallah & Aning, 2022;Edu-Afful, 2022;Aubyn, 2022;Alhassan & Asante, 2022).…”

The Gender Dimensions of Resource Conflicts in Ghana: Deconstructing the Male-Centric and Binary Outlook of Communal Conflicts

“…In the study communities, the activities of three joint military-police operations were notable (see Table 1). These were Operation Vanguard, specifically designated to eradicate all artisanal and small-scale mining activity in the country (Hilson & Maconachie 2020;Alhassan & Asante, 2022;Edu-Afful, 2022), Operation Gong-Gong, to strengthen community policing in chieftaincy-related conflict areas and Operation Cow Leg, to enforce security among farmers and pastoralist-herders (Agyeman, 2019;Alhassan & Asante, 2022). A fourth, Operation Calm Life, which was to combat armed robbery due to the limited capacity of the police to fight crime in the country (Asante, 2020;Edu-Afful, 2022), was also said to have been present in some of the communities studied.…”