Representatives from U.S. Africa Command and 26 African nations commemorated the closing Exercise Africa Endeavor 2009 with a series of speeches, a parade and a small reception in Libreville, Gabon, October 9, 2009.



Gabon's Secretary General of the Ministry of National Defense General Mangolo M'Voulou and U.S. Africa Command's Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities Ambassador Anthony Holmes presided over the ceremony which highlighted the achievements of this year's exercise.



During his speech, Ambassador Holmes praised the efforts of the participants in building and strengthening interoperability in the communications field.



"Today, we are one step closer to solving the interoperability puzzle," Holmes said. "By taking part in this event, you have demonstrated a commitment to harnessing the power of communications technology in order to ensure the long-term peace, stability and prosperity on the African continent.



Overall, the 11-day exercise featured 198 participants from 27 different nations--composed of the United States and two of Africa's regional economic communities--who conducted radio and data communications tests from Gabon to test sites within Namibia, Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana and Germany.



According to Gabonese Rear Admiral Hervé Nambo, organization committee chairman and Gabonese delegation chief, this year's installment of Africa Endeavor made major progress in the area of sending data to local and wide area networks via radio transmissions.



"Africa Endeavor 2009 was a great success in regard to the significant advances seen in the realization of goals set by senior African officials intended to endow the African Standby Force with an adequate and effective transmission architecture for peace keeping operations," Nambo said during his speech.



In addition to the scheduled radio and data tests, the exercise featured a variety of classes on topics such as wireless messaging, spectrum management, network and router security, and virus defense.



Upon completion of the annual exercise, all U.S. force returned to their home bases and stations.



In looking forward to next year's exercise, Holmes concluded his speech by thanking the host nation and all of the participants whose efforts made this year's Africa Endeavor a success.



"The United States Africa Command is honored and privileged to be working by your side," Holmes said. "We remain committed to building the capacity of our partners and look forward to seeing you next year at Africa Endeavor 2010."