Representatives of African armies in Kigali to plan joint exercise

KIGALI - Close to 150 participants from 33 African nations are meeting in Kigali preparing for a joint military exercise dubbed Africa Endeavour (AE) 2010, slated for August in Accra, Ghana. According to the conference’s coordinator, Maj. Christophe Semuhungu, AE is a US-Africa Command (AFRICOM)-sponsored, multinational initiative that seeks to improve communications between African armies by establishing a network linking their command and control structures to better prepare for joint operations. The week-long conference follows similar meetings in Kampala, Uganda, and Accra. According to Semuhungu, the conference will be attended by over 146 participants from 33 African nations and representatives from EAC and ECOWAS. “It is about improving communication in the armed forces – local area network, wide area network and radio communication. They try to set standards so that African countries can communicate well,” Maj. Semuhungu said on phone. “Normally, every country will have an opportunity to host a planning conference or an exercise”. Past field training exercises took place in Pretoria, South Africa (2006), Abuja, Nigeria (2008) and Libreville, Gabon in 2009. Ends

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Representatives of African armies in Kigali to plan joint exercise