Chiefs of Defense meet: African voices for a secure future

U.S. Africa Command hosted senior commanders from 46 African militaries during a virtual Chiefs of Defense Conference Jan. 27, 2021.

"As we move forward together the shared understanding we build in this venue will help us to coordinate our actions better in the future, and make our shared security objectives more achievable.” - Gen. Townsend

By Patrick Loch , U.S. Africa Command Germany Feb 17, 2021

View Gallery

Gallery contains 4 images

U.S. Africa Command hosted senior commanders from 46 African militaries during a virtual Chiefs of Defense Conference Jan. 27, 2021.

“The purpose of this conference is to provide all of us a forum to hear from you and each other,” said U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). “Your shared interest on mutual security challenges is invaluable. As we move forward together the shared understanding we build in this venue will help us to coordinate our actions better in the future, and make our shared security objectives more achievable.”

Townsend, joined by Sgt. Maj. Richard Thresher, command senior enlisted leader, and Ms. Barbara Hughes, USAID senior development advisor to AFRICOM, chaired the first CHOD conference in three years from Stuttgart, Germany.

The conference themes were combined operations and force professionalization, and included keynote addresses from Dr. Mo Ibrahim, chair, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and Gen. Charles Brown, chief of staff, U.S. Air Force.

The event began with a panel discussion led by senior officers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, and Seychelles, and the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAF).

“We need to have a good collaboration with our neighbors,” said Gen. Célestin Mbala, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, discussing combined operations against violent extremist organizations, maritime threats and infectious diseases.

Col. Michael Rosette, chief, Seychelles People’s Defence Forces, noted “Information sharing and operational coordination at the multinational level has resulted in successful maritime operations in the region,” resulting in the decline of piracy in the waters surrounding the island nation.

“The only way to battle it is to collaborate regionally,” Rosette said.

“None of us can solve these problems by ourselves,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander, SOCAF. “We need to harness the wisdom that we all bring to the table in order come to a solution and start solving these wicked problems.”

Maj. Gen. Al Khair Abdallah Idris, director for strategic intelligence, Sudanese Armed Forces, commented on his country’s effort to combat trafficking of humans and drugs, and improvements in doing so by the exchange of intelligence with neighboring countries.

The second panel, to identify areas for collaboration around force professionalization and institution building, included presentations by senior officers from Botswana and Morocco, and the commander of U.S. Marine Forces Europe and Africa (MARFOREUR/AF).

“I see the professional military as selectively recruited, systematically trained, widely educated and well-disciplined force that is maintained both in peace and in war,” said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Michael Langley, commander, MARFOREUR/AF.

“Professionalism is a team effort.”

AFRICOM and Norwegian Military Leaders Strengthen Maritime Security Cooperation in Africa

AFRICOM Commander Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Algerian Ministry of National Defense

Exercise Phoenix Express 2024 Concludes in Tunisia

Military Leaders from the US and Morocco Strengthen Partnerships at the Marrakech Airshow 2024

United States and Zambia Strengthen Efforts to Combat Gender-Based Violence

Gen. Stephen Townsend

Botswana

Republic of the Congo

SOCAF

Chiefs of Defense

CHOD

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

Chiefs of Defense meet: African voices for a secure future

U.S. Africa Command hosted senior commanders from 46 African militaries during a virtual Chiefs of Defense Conference Jan. 27, 2021.