AE11 Linking to ECOWAS and the AU

US Africa Command Deborah Robin Croft

July 15, 2011

to Nigeria and Ghana based upon the previous AE test exercises and the present one that is happening. BANJUL, The GambiaThis We are able to make records of year, one of the biggest technical frequencies and other necessary hurdles facing the Africa Endeavor input that we will be able to use to 2011 (AE11) exercise participants communicate to our sub-regional has been to establish connectivity partners. from the main exercise site in We also spoke to the AU Standby Banjul with the two remote sites; Force Communications Officer, the Economic Community of West Zambian Army Col., Wilson African States (ECOWAS) Chikwalamba Tembo about the headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria and challenges involved in training the African Union (AU) across so many different cultures headquarters in Addis Ababa, and languages. Ethiopia. Weve got Francophone countries; Nigeria is taking the lead by we have Anglophile countries, providing the high frequency link others that are Portuguese speaking Banjul, The Gambia - Ghanaian Lt. Augustine Kwesi using its own equipment for this and so on. And each of these groups Assibour and Nigerian StSgt. Razak Mustapha discuss vital portion of the exercise. The configuration of the antenna that Nigerian troops erected has their own way of conducting the help AE 11 exercise Nigerians have already established with 14, 2011 of other delegations at theDaniel T. West, on business, especially in terms of July (US Army Photo by Sgt. 358th PAD) voice communications with procedures in communicating. So ECOWAS. A back up radio what AE is doing is to try and bring system, set up by the coalition partners including; the all these together to find a common ground and come U.S., Canada and the Netherlands, has received a clear up with common standards that we should be able to signal from the AU. use irrespective of where were coming from, to be Chairman for the Host Nation AE Committee, able to communicate effectively. Gambian Navy Commodore, Madani Senghore, All of this hard work is clearly paying off during expressed the significance of AE11 for his country, AE11, as people from all over Africa are engaging in this years host nation, the Gambia. animated dialogue and furthering human as well as I am confident that, with the equipment that we have technological communication. in the Gambia, we will be able to establish radio calls

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 Commands 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)

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