Learning From the Past: Enhancing Comprehensive Protection of Civilians

MUSANZE, Rwanda – U.S. Africa Command, through the Department of State’s Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative, in partnership with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Rwanda, and the United Nations Integrated Training Services conducted a comprehensive train-the-trainers course on protection of civilians at the Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze, Rwanda, May 6-11.

By Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Hurd , U.S. Africa Command Musanze, Rwanda May 20, 2019

View Gallery

Gallery contains 7 images

MUSANZE, Rwanda – U.S. Africa Command, through the Department of State’s Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative, in partnership with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Rwanda, and the United Nations Integrated Training Services conducted a comprehensive train-the-trainers course on protection of civilians at the Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze, Rwanda, May 6-11.

The purpose of the course was to instruct the trainers from African partner troop contributing countries and police contributing countries in order to enhance their capability and strengthen their skill-set in training future peacekeepers. “What we are teaching the participants has been motivated by civilians who have suffered in conflict starting with Rwanda,” said Kenyan Lt. Col. Abraham Biwot, UN ITS instructor. “The UN recognized that if civilians aren’t protected in times of conflict then it will affect international peace and security.”

Twenty-eight participants from 13 African partner nations and the Netherlands, and five instructors from the United Nations Integrated Training Services attended the training. The six-day curriculum, designed by the UN, consisted of conceptual, operational and tactical framework to peace support operations with an emphasis on the protection of civilians.

During the training, the participants learned about the key aspects of protection during a crisis which included planning, conducting a threat analysis and conducting a risk assessment as well as going through a scenario on how to protect civilians.

“[The training] has really sharpened our knowledge and our skills,” said Zambian Col. Prosper Mangamu, course participant. “We also had the opportunity to visit the Rwandan Memorial site and it gave us a lot of insight on the need to protect civilians during times of conflict because they are the most vulnerable groups.”

This training directly supports USAFRICOM’s African Campaign Plan to strengthen partner networks and enhance partner capability to achieve a key campaign objective of enabling “African Partners to Contribute to Regional Security”. “We have a partner centric strategy,” said U.S. Air Force Col. James L. Donelson, J55 division chief. “That means everything that we do at U.S. Africa Command starts with our partners.”

The train-the-trainer course, held twice a year, allows U.S. Africa Command to impart key concepts of soldier professionalization with second and third degree effects to reduce incidents in UN missions in Africa as well as spreading civilian protection tactics. Overall, this important and cost effective program is a force multiplier to enhance partner capability and peacekeeping operation objectives throughout Africa.

Zambia’s Minister of Defense visits AFRICOM Headquarters

Justified Accord planning event paves way for PKO exercise

U.S. Forces conduct strike against ISIS-Somalia

U.S. Forces Conduct Significant Kinetic Strike Targeting ISIS-Somalia

Combined Drug Operation Seizes Six Tons of Cocaine in Gulf of Guinea

Global Peace Operations Initiative

GPOI

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

Learning From the Past: Enhancing Comprehensive Protection of Civilians