Vice Adm. Mathew Quashie, Chief of Defence for the Ghana Armed Forces, traveled from Accra to meet with leaders of U.S. Africa Command on April 7 at the Command’s headquarters at Kelly Barracks, U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart, Germany.  Accompanying Adm. Quashie was U.S. Army Maj. Gen. David Sprynczatyk, the Adjutant General for the North Dakota National Guard.  Both met with U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Kingsley, Chief of Staff, and U.S. Army Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Darrin Bohn, Senior Enlisted Leader, along with senior staff, both military and civilian, from across U.S. Africa Command.

Under the National Guard’s state partnership program, which is supported with major funding from U.S. AFRICOM, North Dakota has been the U.S. “state partner” of Ghana for more than ten years. 

Besides funding, U.S. AFRICOM provides staff experts in areas such as maritime security, medical training events, disaster response planning and training, and military-to-military engagements designed to strengthen bonds between U.S. and Ghana uniformed forces. 

The North Dakota National Guard has become a model among state partnerships.  Besides Ghana, the North Dakota National Guard recently partnered with the countries of Togo and Benin, making North Dakota the first U.S. state to team with three African partner nations. 

That brings the total number of African nations up to ten that now have working relationships under the state partnership program.  With Ghana, Togo and Benin now teamed with North Dakota, the other partnerships are Botswana and North Carolina; Liberia and Michigan; Morocco and Utah; Nigeria and California; Senegal and Vermont; South Africa and New York; and Tunisia and Wyoming.