STUTTGART - General William "Kip" Ward and his U.S. Africa Command Staff hosted a group of honorary consuls general and local German media at the AFRICOM Headquarters on Kelley Barracks January 21, 2011.

The event served to inform the guests on the AFRICOM mission and further develop local German-American relations.

Held in the command's new state-of-the-art multi-purpose center, the day began with a German media roundtable covering a variety of topics and answering questions such as why the command is located in Stuttgart.

According to AFRICOM Chief of Staff, Major General Richard Sherlock, "Our efforts have to center on what we can do that is value added for our African partners. It is not about Africa command; it's not about the United States." He went on to say that it is about, "the things that we can bring to the table that our African partners ask us to and those areas where they ask us to contribute and be helpful, it's about what we can do with them that makes us value added."

Sherlock touched upon how the command has endeavored to be perceived as "reliable partners and long term friends with our African partners," which over time, he said, would lead to a "great degree of trust and confidence, that when we go somewhere we do what we say we are going to do and we leave when we are finished."

Amplifying this point AFRICOM spokesman Colonel Franklin Childress talked to the media about how the command aims to "erase skepticism with transparency," as was one of the intended outcomes of the day's engagement.

After a windshield tour of Kelley Barracks, the media members joined representatives from the Interessengemeinschaft Akkreditier Consuln Africa (German for Community of interests accredit Consul Africa or as we know it "Honorary Consuls"), a group of local business men and women who have a shared interest in specific countries on the African continent. There, they were provided with in-depth briefings from various AFRICOM staff directorates on how those teams operate both on and off the continent.
IACA Chairman Helmut W. Schweimler who has served as the honorary counsel to Cape Verde for 22 years, had been requesting this engagement for quite some time according to General Ward.

"The purpose of the program is a very simple one and that is our desire that you (Honorary Consuls) understand what we do," Ward explained. "It was also an opportunity that we have to listen to you, to hear from you, and understand some of your thoughts about the continent and the countries where you are assigned as honorary consuls."

Ward began the presentations by explaining how the command had been here in Stuttgart in accomplishing its mission, "in a very substantial way," for more than two years. The first year was spent developing the command's capacity and taking responsibility for work that was being formerly accomplished by three different commands (European Command, Central Command and Pacific Command).

"Our African partners and friends, our international partners and friends, other government agencies that were conducting activities in Africa were able to continue their work as we assumed responsibility. None of the good things that were happening stopped. We wanted that work to continue in a very seamless and transparent fashion so that the things that we were doing were in fact being seen by our African friends and partners ," remaining in good standing and the command's role, "or mission," to take them to, "higher and higher levels."

Briefings from staff directorates addressed their individual team's structures, programs, operations and activities on the continent.

In later briefings, Ward introduced his command team including former U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso, J. Anthony Holmes, who currently serves as the command's deputy to the commander for civil-military activities.

Holmes commented on how AFRICOM is "different" from other combatant commands which are predominately military, and therefore, African challenges should not be solved by traditional military approaches. Instead, they are questions of long term development, economic development, political development and social development." In pursuit of these goals, AFRICOM brings together other agencies of the U.S. government into a "whole of government approach" to address these challenges. .

In closing, Ward highlighted that stability isn't only in the best interests of Africa but also for America and the international community. This shared interest is the overarching goal of everyone, to include these Honorary Consuls.