[1] Opande is also a graduate of the British Army's Staff College, Camberley and the U.S. National Defense University at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington DC.

In 1998, General Opande, listed in Chinese sources as president of the Institute for National Defence, visited the People's Republic of China.

In a letter to the UN Security Council dated 29 September 2003, the UN Secretary-General advised that Opande was to be appointed Force Commander of the newly established United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

General Opande said in early 2004 that communications between the three UN peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire were quite good, and that the contact permitted exchanges of ideas at the highest level.

He said "Very little was really known by the majority of people or countries in Africa who were supposed to know before such a move was made," meaning that significant doubt was created as to the United States' actual intentions.