Africa Endeavor 2011 News letter ECOWAS

AE11 Linking to ECOWAS and the AU July 15, 2011 US Africa Command Deborah Robin Croft BANJUL, The Gambia — This year, one of the biggest technical hurdles facing the Africa Endeavor 2011 (AE11) exercise participants has been to establish connectivity from the main exercise site in Banjul 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 this vital portion of the ex ercise. The Nigerians have already established voice communications with ECOWAS. A back up radio system, set up by the coalition partners including; the U.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 have in the Gambia, we will be able to establish radio calls to Nigeria and Ghana based upon the previous AE test exercises and the present one that is happening. We are able to make records of frequencies and other necessary input that we will be able to use to communicate to our sub-regional partners.” We also spoke to the AU Standby Force Communications Officer, Zambian Army Col., Wilson Chikwalamba Tembo about the challenges involved in training across so many different cultures and languages. “We’ve got Francophone countries; we have Anglophile countries, others that are Portuguese speaking and so on. And each of these groups has their own way of conducting business, especially in terms of procedures in communicating. So what AE is doing is to try and bring all these together to find a common ground and come up with common standards that we should be able to use irrespective of where we’re coming from, to be able to communicate effectively.” All of this hard work is clearly paying off during AE11, as people from all over Africa are engaging in animated 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; [email protected] Banjul, The Gambia - Ghanaian Lt. Au gustine 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 En deavor 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 i nformation technology expert. (USAFRICOM photo, SSgt. Amanda McCarty)

Upload
us-africa-command
Category

Documents
view
219
download
0

Embed Size (px):

Transcript of Africa Endeavor 2011 News letter ECOWAS

Page 1: Africa Endeavor 2011 News letter ECOWAS

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; [email protected]

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,