COTONOU, Benin - Officers of Benin's Armed Forces discussed the importance of providing military support to civilian authorities in the occurrence of a pandemic disaster during a conference June 19, 2010 in Cotonou, Benin.

Approximately 50 members of Benin's Army, Air force, and Navy gathered together two days prior to U.S. Africa Command's West Africa Pandemic Disaster Response table top exercise to make initial introductions between Beninese and U.S. military partners and provide preliminary information related to the table top. Topics discussed included disaster management, pandemic preparedness and coordination with civil authorities during a disaster.

The session was geared to help the officers understand the role of the military in a pandemic response and how the military can best be used within a local, national, and regional response plan.

They will further assess and test their plans in coordination with interagency and regional partners throughout the table top exercise June 21-25.

According to Erik Threet, U.S. AFRICOM's Pandemic Response program director, there are several critical areas which militaries could be called to support during a pandemic. These include logistics, transportation, security, engineering, public health, and regional response. Threet also stressed that a health disaster can quickly become a security disaster if the proper procedures are not in place.

Participating as facilitators in the event are three representatives from Uganda and Kenya who took part in a previous Pandemic Response exercise in Uganda in October 2009. Based on their experience from the East Africa table top exercise, they will work with the West African militaries on their response plans.

Colonel Dick Olum, director of education for the Uganda People's Defence Forces is one of the facilitators.

"Militarily, pandemic response is not a traditional military role where we go fighting bad guys, the enemy, rebels," Olum said, speaking at the pre-exercise session. "Normally pandemic response is just a virus, is not the typical enemy that we've been looking for."

Stressing that the military does not take charge during disaster response missions, Olum explained that in a disaster, strategic decisions and guidelines transcend down from each of the national task forces within the region.

"Pandemic response is a multidimensional and multinational involvement. This is a situation where countries, militaries, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and international NGOs all work for a common goal."

The official exercise kicked off Monday, June 21, marking U.S. AFRICOM's first pandemic response exercise in West Africa. Participating are civilian and military representatives from 15 African countries, as well as those from the United Nations, U.S. Agency for International Development, World Health Organization, World Food Program, and other agencies. The event is supported by the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM).