Editing Ghana Armed Forces (section)

==History==
In 1879, the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] Constabulary was established by personnel of the Hausa Constabulary of Southern Nigeria, to perform internal security and police duties in the British colony of the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]]. In this guise, the regiment earned its first battle honour as part of the Ashanti campaign.<ref>{{Cite web|title=7 Best Hausa in Gold Coast ideas {{!}} british colonies, police duty, gold coast|url=https://www.pinterest.com/hnattycat/hausa-in-gold-coast/|access-date=2021-01-18|website=Pinterest|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Ghana Armed Forces (Ghana Regiment) War Flag.jpg|thumb|250px|[[War flag|War Flag]] of the [[Ghana Regiment]] during the [[Burma Campaign]] in the [[South-East Asian Theatre of World War II]].]]
The Gold Coast Constabulary was renamed in 1901 as the Gold Coast Regiment, following the foundation of the [[Royal West African Frontier Force|West African Frontier Force]], under the direction of the [[Colonial Office]] of the [[British Government]]. The regiment raised a total of five [[battalion]]s for service during the [[First World War]], all of which served during the East Africa campaign. During the [[Second World War]], the regiment raised nine battalions, and saw action in Kenya's Northern Frontier District, Italian Somaliland, [[Ethiopia|Abyssinia]] and [[Burma]] as part of the [[2nd (West Africa) Infantry Brigade]].<ref name="Combat Support Arms">{{cite web|title=Combat {{as written|Supprt [sic]}} Arms|url=http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=40&Itemid=76|access-date=2014-04-26|work=Gaf.mil.gh|publisher=Ghana Armed Forces|archive-date=2011-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928022038/http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=40&Itemid=76|url-status=dead}}</ref> Gold Coast soldiers returning from the Far East carried different perspectives from when they had departed.

===Internal operations===
{{See also|History of Ghana (1966-1979)}}
The Ghana Armed Forces were formed in 1957. Major General [[Stephen Otu]] was appointed Chief of Defence Staff in September 1961. From 1966, the Armed Forces were extensively involved in politics, mounting several coups. [[Kwame Nkrumah]] had become Ghana's first [[prime minister]] when the country became independent in 1957. As Nkrumah's rule wore on, he began to take actions which disquieted the leadership of the armed forces, including the creation and expansion of the [[President's Own Guard Regiment]] (POGR).<ref name="Ghana Country Study">La Verle Berry (ed.), 'The National Liberation Council,' in [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ghtoc.html Ghana Country Study], Library of Congress, research completed November 1994</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Gafcsc {{!}} Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College |url=https://gafcscmil.edu.gh/history-of-gafcsc/ |access-date=2023-08-16 |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816204940/https://gafcscmil.edu.gh/history-of-gafcsc/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

As a result, on February 24, 1966, a small number of Army personnel and senior police officials, led by Colonel [[Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka|Emmanuel Kotoka]], commander of the Second Brigade at [[Kumasi]], Major [[Akwasi Afrifa]], (staff officer in charge of army training and operations), Lieutenant General (retired) [[Joseph Arthur Ankrah|Joseph Ankrah]], and [[J.W.K. Harlley]], (the police inspector general), successfully launched "Operation Cold Chop", the [[1966 Ghanaian coup d'état]], against the Nkrumah regime.<ref name="Ghana Country Study"/> The group formed the [[National Liberation Council]], which ruled Ghana from 1966 to 1969.

The Armed Forces seized power again in January 1972, after the reinstated civilian government cut military privileges and started changing the leadership of the army's combat units. Lieutenant Colonel [[Ignatius Kutu Acheampong]] (temporary commander of the First Brigade around Accra) led the bloodless [[1972 Ghanaian coup d'état]] that ended the Second Republic.<ref>Berry (ed.), 1994</ref> Thus the [[National Redemption Council]] was formed. Acheampong became head of state, and the NRC ruled from 1972 to 1975.

On October 9, 1975, the NRC was replaced by the [[Supreme Military Council, Ghana|Supreme Military Council]] (SMC).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-76830 |title= Ghana |access-date=2007-03-20 |year=2007 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica }}</ref> Council members were Colonel Acheampong, (chairman, who was also promoted straight from [[Colonel]] to [[General]]), Lt. Gen. [[Fred Akuffo]], (the [[Chief of the Defence Staff (Ghana)|Chief of Defence Staff]]), and the army, navy, air force and [[Border Guard Unit]] commanders.

In July 1978, in a sudden move, the other SMC officers forced Acheampong to resign, replacing him with Lt. Gen. Akuffo. The SMC apparently acted in response to continuing pressure to find a solution to the country's economic dilemma; inflation was estimated to be as high as 300% that year. The council was also motivated by Acheampong's failure to dampen rising political pressure for changes. Akuffo, the new SMC chairman, promised publicly to hand over political power to a new government to be elected by July 1, 1979.<ref name=nrc>McLaughlin & Owusu-Ansah (1994), "The National Redemption Council Years, 1972-79".</ref>

The decree lifting the ban on party politics went into effect on January 1, 1979, as planned. However, in June, just before the scheduled resumption of civilian rule, a group of young armed forces officers, led by [[Flight Lieutenant]] [[Jerry Rawlings]], mounted the [[1979 Ghanaian coup d'état]]. They put in place the [[Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, Ghana|Armed Forces Revolutionary Council]], which governed until September 1979. However, in 1981, Rawlings deposed the new civilian government again, in the [[1981 Ghanaian coup d'état]].<ref>Hutchful, Eboe. "Institutional Decomposition and Junior Ranks’ Political Action in Ghana." in Hutchful and Bathilly, ''The military and militarism in Africa'', CODESRIA, (1998): 211-56.</ref> This time Rawlings established the [[Provisional National Defence Council]] (PNDC). The PNDC remained in government until January 7, 1993. In the last years of the PNDC, Jerry Rawlings assumed civilian status; he was elected as a civilian President in 1993 and continued as president until 2001.

<gallery>
File:Ghana Armed Forces – Military Sergeant Soldier.jpg|A female [[sergeant]] from the Ghana Army on a [[military exercise]].
File:Ghanain Army 2005-095.jpg|Ghana Army [[soldier]]s during a simulated [[amphibious landing]] in Southwest Ghana.
File:USMC-110309-M-DF801-045.jpg|Posed photograph from a U.S. Marine Corps -Ghana [[jungle warfare]] training exercise.
File:Members of the Ghana Army 2nd Engineer Battalion prepare to practice riot control techniques during a nonlethal training demonstration June 26, 2013, in Accra, Ghana, as part of exercise Western Accord 2013 130626-A-ZZ999-023.jpg|2nd Engineer Battalion [[Snatch squad|Snatch Squad]] engaged in [[flying wedge]] and [[riot control]].
File:Members of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center honor guard stand in formation during a welcoming ceremony for Ivory Coast Gen. Soumaila Bakayoko, the Economic Community of West African 130626-A-ZZ999-016.jpg|[[Guard of honour|Honour guards]] from Ghana Air Force during a welcoming ceremony for Ivory Coast Gen. [[Soumaila Bakayoko]], the ECOWAS chair of chiefs of defence staff, during Exercise Western Accord 13.
</gallery>

===External operations===
[[File:Ghanaian ECOMOG troops embarking USAF C-130E.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Ghana Army]] [[soldier]]s boarding a [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules]] at [[Kotoka International Airport]] to take part in an [[Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group]] mission in [[Liberia]].]]
The Armed Forces' first external operation was the [[United Nations Operation in the Congo]] in the early 1960s.<ref name="ONUC−Congo">{{cite web|url=http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=28&Itemid=123|title=ONUC−Congo|access-date=2014-04-27|work=Gaf.mil.gh|publisher=Ghana Armed Forces|archive-date=2016-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124143019/http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=28&Itemid=123|url-status=dead}}</ref> The GAF operated in the [[Balkans]], including with [[UNMIK]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Aning |first1=Kwesi |last2=Aubyn |first2=Festus K. |date=2013-02-28 |title= Providing Peacekeepers|chapter=Ghana |pages=269–290 |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/36243/chapter/316033843 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672820.003.0013|isbn=978-0-19-967282-0 }}</ref> Ghanaian operations within [[Africa]] included the [[UNAMIR]] deployment which became entangled in the [[Rwandan genocide]]. In his book ''[[Shake Hands with the Devil (book)|Shake Hands with the Devil]]'', [[Canadian Forces]] commander [[Romeo Dallaire]] gave the Ghanaian soldiers high praise for their work during that deployment. During the [[Second Liberian Civil War|Liberian Civil War]], Ghanaian activities helped pave the way for the [[Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement]], among others.<ref name="ECOMOG−Liberia">{{cite web|url=http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=119|title=ECOMOG−Liberia|access-date=2014-04-27|work=Gaf.mil.gh|publisher=Ghana Armed Forces|archive-date=2014-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306052644/http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=119|url-status=dead}}</ref> Additional operations in Asia have included Iran and Iraq in the [[Iran–Iraq War]],<ref name="Iran–Iraq War">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/uniimogbackgr.html |title=Iran–Iraq War|access-date=2014-04-27|work=un.org}}</ref> [[Kuwait]] and [[Lebanese Civil War|Lebanon civil war]] among others.<ref name="UNIFIL−Lebanon">{{cite web |url=http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=24&Itemid=127 |title=UNIFIL−Lebanon|access-date=2014-04-27|work=Gaf.mil.gh |publisher=Ghana Armed Forces}}</ref><ref name="Lebanese Govt to erect monument">{{cite web |url=http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=178%3Alebanese-govt-to-erect-monument-in-honour-of-ghanaian-peacekeepers&Itemid=89 |title=Lebanese Govt to erect monument in honour of Ghanaian peacekeepers|access-date=2014-04-27| date=2 June 2011|work=Gaf.mil.gh |publisher=Ghana Armed Forces}}</ref>

A total of 3,359 Ghana Army soldiers and 283 Ghana Military Police operated as part of UNTAC in [[Cambodia]].<ref name="Cambodia−UNTAC"/> The UNTAC operation lasted two years, 1992−1993.<ref name="Cambodia−UNTAC"/> After the long running Cambodia civil war ignited by external interventions, a resolution was accepted by the four warring factional parties.<ref name="Cambodia−UNTAC"/> Operation UNTAC was the largest Ghanaian external operation since Ghana's first external military operation, [[ONUC]] in the Congo in the 1960s.<ref name="Cambodia−UNTAC"/> Operation [[UNTAC]] and its contingent UNAMIC had a combined budget of more than $1.6 billion.<ref name="Cambodia−UNTAC">{{cite web |url=http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=30&Itemid=128 |title=UNTAC−Cambodia |access-date=2014-04-25 |work=Gaf.mil.gh |publisher=Ghana Armed Forces |archive-date=2016-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124143024/http://www.gaf.mil.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=30&Itemid=128 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2012, closer military cooperation was agreed with the [[Armed Forces of the Russian Federation]]. In 2013, the Armed Forces agreed closer military cooperation with the China [[People's Liberation Army]],<ref name="China-Ghana strengthen military ties">{{cite web |work= People Daily Online |url =http://english.people.com.cn/90786/7655236.html |title = China-Ghana strengthen military ties |access-date = 23 June 2013}}</ref> and with the [[Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran]].
[[File:Ghanaian Female Soldiers .jpg|thumb|Ghanaian Female Peacekeepers going back home after serving with United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ( UNIFIL )]]