AE11 Linking to ECOWAS and the AU   July 15, 2011 

US Africa Command DeborahRobin Croft

BANJUL, The Gambia — Thisyear, one of the biggest technicalhurdles facing the Africa Endeavor 2011 (AE11) exercise participantshas been to establish connectivity

from the main exercise site inBanjul with the two remote sites;the Economic Community of West

African States (ECOWAS)headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria and

the African Union (AU)headquarters in Addis Ababa,Ethiopia.

 Nigeria is taking the lead by providing the high frequency link 

using its own equipment for thisvital portion of the exercise. The

 Nigerians have already established

voice communications withECOWAS. A back up radio

system, set up by the coalition partners including; theU.S., Canada and the Netherlands, has received a clear signal from the AU.

Chairman for the Host Nation AE Committee,Gambian Navy Commodore, Madani Senghore,expressed the significance of AE11 for his country,this year’s host nation, the Gambia.  

“I am confident that, with the equipment that we havein the Gambia, we will be able to establish radio calls

to Nigeria and Ghana based uponthe previous AE test exercises andthe present one that is happening.

We are able to make records of frequencies and other necessaryinput that we will be able to use tocommunicate to our sub-regional

 partners.”

We also spoke to the AU StandbyForce Communications Officer,Zambian Army Col., Wilson

Chikwalamba Tembo about thechallenges involved in trainingacross so many different culturesand languages.

“We’ve got Francophone countries;we have Anglophile countries,others that are Portuguese speakingand so on. And each of these groupshas their own way of conducting

 business, especially in terms of  procedures in communicating. Sowhat AE is doing is to try and bring

all these together to find a common ground and comeup with common standards that we should be able to

use irrespective of where we’re coming from, to beable to communicate effectively.” 

All of this hard work is clearly paying off during

AE11, as people from all over Africa are engaging inanimated dialogue and furthering human as well as

technological communication.

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs +49(0)711-729-2687/2670 (Stuttgart, Germany) - www.africom.mil; africom-pao@africom.mil

 Banjul, The Gambia - Ghanaian Lt. Augustine Kwesi

Assibour and Nigerian StSgt. Razak Mustapha discuss

configuration of the antenna that Nigerian troops erected

with the help of other delegations at the AE 11 exercise on

July 14, 2011 (US Army Photo by Sgt. Daniel T. West,

358th PAD) 

 ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – U.S. Commander Rick Mercadante, Combined Joint Task 

 Force – Horn of Africa country plans officer, discusses peace support operations

during U.S. Africa Command’s Africa Endeavor 2011 (AE 11) communications

exercise July 14, 2011, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with South African Lieutenant 

Colonel (Dr.) Simon Leopeng, African Standby Force (ASF) medical planning officer,

and Zambian Lieutenant Colonel Kelvin Silomba, ASF information technology expert.

(USAFRICOM photo, SSgt. Amanda McCarty)