AFRICOM Furthers Commitment to African Partnerships by Supporting IMET and Educating Today’s Military Leaders

The commander of U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, furthered the command’s desire to deepen its partnerships and defense relations by empowering today’s leaders during a discussion with students attending Marine Corps University and the U.S. International Military Education and Training program on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in Quantico, Virginia.

By U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs , United States Africa Command Stuttgart, Germany Oct 01, 2024

View Gallery

Gallery contains 5 images

The commander of U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, furthered the command’s desire to deepen its partnerships and defense relations by empowering today’s leaders during a discussion with students attending Marine Corps University and the U.S. International Military Education and Training program on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in Quantico, Virginia.

Students, representing numerous allied and interagency partners, and sister services from the U.S. Department of Defense met with Langley to garner his insight on how they can leverage their current training to assist in strengthening relationships with our African partners while supporting efforts to build partner nation capabilities.

“Advancing relationships with our African partners is an effort that requires unification from a three-dimensional approach,” Langley stated. “Your participation in your respective program is a testament of how two dimensions of this dynamic approach – Diplomacy and Defense – marry together to strengthen our defense institutions through shared values.”

For AFRICOM, a U.S. Combatant Command whose primary mission is multilayered, opportunities to work with and educate rising leaders in allied defense organizations builds a bridge to foster interagency efforts that later assists in negating the drivers of conflict and extremism found throughout Africa’s regions.

“I cannot emphasize enough the value that’s placed on the partnerships we maintain, nurture and cultivate across the continent,” said Langley. “Having our African partners at the center and forefront of what we do solidifies our partnership and efforts to promote regional security, stability, and prosperity in Africa.”

Started nearly fifty years ago, the IMET program is an instrument of U.S. national security and foreign policy that has a purpose of promoting more professional militaries and defense cooperation between the U.S. and foreign countries through training. As the Professional Military Education proponent, Marine Corps University develops the professional competence of its Marines, other service, international, and civilian students. After completing their respective course, graduates are prepared to lead and perform more effectively in multinational environments at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels.

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

U.S. Forces Conduct Strike Targeting ISIS-Somalia

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