Justified Accord 2017: Increasing interoperability is key to a secure Africa

Participants gathered from March 20-24, 2017, to increase interoperability through academic classes and discussion-based practical exercises focused on a collective ability to establish and maintain peace in East Africa.

“We look forward to working with you – learning with you and from you.” - Brig. Gen. Jon Jensen

By Staff Sgt. Lance Pounds , U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia Apr 03, 2017

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Nearly 100 participants from eight nations and seven international organizations gathered for the U.S. Army Africa (USARAF) -led exercise Justified Accord 17 at the Peace Support Training Center in Addis Ababa March 20-24, 2017.

“We look forward to working with you – learning with you and from you,” said Brig. Gen. Jon Jensen, USARAF deputy commander, during his opening ceremony speech.

According to Jensen, the Justified Accord exercise is a continuation of the previous Eastern Accord exercise series, which originated with the 1998 exercise series Natural Fire.

“Like Natural Fire and Eastern Accord, Justified Accord is an annual combined joint exercise focused on bringing together U.S. and African partners, Western allies and international organizations to promote interoperability through collaboration of peacekeeping operations in the East Africa region.” Jensen said.

The new name brought with it new faces, while familiar faces from the exercise’s nearly 20-year run were also present.

Participants gathered to increase interoperability through academic classes and discussion-based practical exercises focused on a collective ability to establish and maintain peace in East Africa.

During the weeklong exercise, participants discussed peacekeeping operations and worked together through structured vignettes with practical applications tailored to the African Union-led peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

“AMISOM has strategic importance to all of us,” Jensen said.

AMISOM is an active regional peacekeeping mission set up by the African Union’s Peace and Security Council with the approval of the United Nations. According to the AMISOM official website, the organization’s mission is to provide support to the Federal Government of Somalia in its efforts to stabilize the country, facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid, and create necessary conditions for the reconstruction and sustainable development of Somalia.

Jensen said that those participating in the exercise understand the complexities associated with AMISOM. He added that they also understand the exercise cannot by itself address every complexity.

“But, what we can do,” Jensen said, “is identify and examine issues, enhance information sharing and cooperation on security issues, and further enhance the multilateral relationships that exist.”

To do this, exercise planners retained some of the traditional key peacekeeping themes from previous exercises, such as international humanitarian law to protect civilians, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, because many of the participating nations have mutually vested interests in these topics.

Jensen asked the exercise participants to bring their best, to challenge assumptions made and take time to develop new friendships.

Developing new friendships and fostering existing relationships has been one of USARAF’s key underlined messages when supporting its African partner nations.

Exercises such as JA17 offer an array of benefits. Participating nations have an opportunity to work together and discuss the possibility of combined deployments, which could have a direct effect on security strengths throughout the East Africa region.

“This exercise gave our people experience in Africa,” said Van der Ploeg, the Royal Netherlands Army land operations command chief of intelligence. “The exercise is important because it allows us to get to know each other before going on missions.”

By the end of the exercise, participants used every opportunity to converse to get to know each other and build friendships.

United Kingdom Lt. Col. Guy Levene, a British advisor to the Ethiopian National Defence Force, said when participants get together in this fashion, “they understand each other a little bit better, which makes regional conflict a little less possible.”

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Justified Accord

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

NAIROBI, Kenya – Among the flurry of tactical live fires and squad movement drills, air ground integration and even the humanitarian initiatives at exercise Justified Accord 2025 (JA25), lies the one thing those who serve in any armed force must follow: The Law. The Law of Armed Conflict, or LOAC, is a key aspect of training for any military. JA25’s academics course aimed at learning from the international legal lessons of previous wars in an effort to reduce the amount of human suffering in future conflicts. “The soldier’s rules are a broad set of rules that we have pulled from the large breadth of international law,” said U.S. Army Maj. Tim Olliges, an operational law attorney assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), the lead U.S. Army command and planner of JA25. “The LOAC is extensive and can be complex, so we pull out the ten most critical concepts that every soldier, right down to the private, should know before they go into combat.”

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

NAIROBI, Kenya – Imagine two scenarios. Scenario 1: Dawn breaks over the capital of Kenya. A U.S. diplomat leaves his residence for the embassy. After a 20-minute ride, his car arrives at the gate and he enters. He sits in his office to begin the day when, all of a sudden, he hears an explosion through the open window. It seems far off; it is not a large explosion. He thinks maybe it was just a car accident, but minutes later he smells something bitter in the air. His eyes water, sirens blare and a U.S. Marine Corps security detail enters his office wearing gas masks. They put a mask on him and tell him they must evacuate immediately because a deadly chemical is blowing over the compound. Scenario 2: U.S. intelligence receives credible information that radiological material is being loaded onto a ship in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. Time is short and no one knows which ship, only that it will embark soon, possibly bound for the hands of violent extremists or other state actors looking to imperil the U.S. homeland. There is no time to send U.S. security forces to intercept the package. Instead, the Kenyan Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) mobilizes and arrives at the port. Using tactics and tools gained from years of training with the United States, they find the ship and the weapon, placed there by a violent extremist organization, and prevent its departure, defeating the threat to America and its citizens. Similar scenarios have happened before in other areas of the world.

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

The U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and Belgian Ministry of Defence, in partnership with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Indo Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Chaplain Directorates, hosted the world’s largest annual meeting of senior military religious leaders at the 36th Annual NATO & Partner International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference (IMCCC) in Brussels, Belgium, January 27-31, 2025.

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

United States Africa Command

Justified Accord 2017: Increasing interoperability is key to a secure Africa

Participants gathered from March 20-24, 2017, to increase interoperability through academic classes and discussion-based practical exercises focused on a collective ability to establish and maintain peace in East Africa.

Justified Accord 17: Increasing interoperability is key to a secure Africa