The United Nation office for Counter Terrorism (UNOCT) which is the agency tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the safety and security of major sporting events concluded a global training for selected sport experts from 12th – 15th January 2024 at the Police/Interpol Academy in Rome, Italy.
The Secretary General for the African Traditional Sports and Games Confederation (ATSGC), Sierra Leone born Chief Michael Shamsu Mustapha participated in the training amongst others. Topics covered during the training includes crowd management, resource mobilization, use of ICT in major sporting events, stadium/venue security, stakeholders’ coordination and collaboration.
According to Chief Mustapha, the knowledge acquired is not only useful for his work with ATSGC but also in helping the Ministry of Sports and other state institutions in Sierra Leone in ensuring sporting events are organized safely. He made reference to the school and university sport events which are marred with violence in the past and other national and international events held in Sierra Leone. He also mentioned that UN has agreed to support with programs for the security sector in the country to ensure they have the prerequisite training to manage sporting events in the country.
It is also worth noting that Chief Mustapha serves as sport expert with ECOWAS, UNESCO and the African Union Sports Council. He leads a multi-agency committee responsible for coordinating support for governments across Africa in the area of sport and Physical Health Education policy reforms. He also served as member of the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sport (CABOS) and Deputy Director at the Ministry of Sports/National Sports Council of Sierra Leone. He was recently appointed by UNOCT as lead coordinator for Africa tasked with the responsibility of monitoring and ensuring organizers of major sporting events in Africa put mechanisms in place to ensure the safety of fans, officials and athletes.
In an interview with our media outfit, he expressed gratitude to HE President Julius Maada Bio for according him with diplomatic status which gave him the platform to mingle with key players around the globe and the opportunity to fly the flag of his beloved country. From Rome, he will be travelling to France, Germany, Czech Republic and Ireland to advocate for opportunities for Sierra Leone and Africa as a whole.
In closing, he mentioned how proud he is to be a Sierra Leonean and will continue to do his best to support the governments priorities particularly with youth and sports initiatives.