CJTF-HOA Officers Support ACSS Outreach Programs
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies conducted a Topical Outreach Program (TOPS) and capacity-building workshop for members of its community chapter in Djibouti on Feb. 7 and 8. Several officers from U.S. Africa Command’s Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) made presentations to chapter members and invited guests.
Captain Peter Van Loon, U.S. Navy, and Lieutenant Colonel Mona Jibril, U.S. Army, gave presentations about disaster management. Civil affairs officers Lieutenant Colonel Michael Hert, U.S. Army, and Major David Robichaud, U.S. Army, spoke about post-conflict reconstruction. The Africa Center’s Senior French Representative, Colonel Xavier Collignon, also discussed disaster management. After each presentation, the CJTF-HOA experts and Colonel Collignon led discussions and answered questions.
According to community affairs specialist Mary McGurn, TOPS trip director, CJTF-HOA’s contributions to the TOPS symposium and capacity-building workshop proved valuable for members of the Djibouti community chapter and helped ensure the success of the overall two-day event.
Following the TOPS and capacity-building workshop, the Africa Center group, led by the Center’s director, Ambassador William M. Bellamy (ret.), visited Camp Lemonnier. CJTF-HOA’s commander, Rear Admiral Anthony Kurta, U.S. Navy, briefed the ACSS team about the unit’s mission, vision, philosophy, and priorities. Other members of Admiral Kurta’s senior staff attending the briefing included Brigadier General James Owens, U.S. Army, CJTF-HOA Deputy Commander, and Ms. Daphne Titus, Political Advisor.
Following the Admiral’s presentation, Ambassador Bellamy provided an overview of the Africa Center’s mission to the CJTF-HOA staff. Discussions ensued about how the Africa Center and CJTF-HOA can cooperate further as they pursue programs in the region.
Before the Africa Center team departed Camp Lemonnier, it also received briefings by CJTF-HOA’s Captain Scott Vasina, U.S. Navy, director of Strategic Communications (CJ-9), and Colonel Stephen Dalzell, U.S. Army, director of Exercises, Training and Resources (CJ-7).
Djibouti was one of six stops in the Africa Center’s month-long mission throughout Africa to present programs to community chapters in the Comoros, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
Begun in 2007, TOPS is the Africa Center’s primary program for maintaining active, positive, and substantive relationships with its alumni organizations known as “Community Chapters,” which now number 24 chapters across Africa.
According to Clifford H. Bernath, Director of the Africa Center’s Directorate of Community Outreach and Public Affairs, “The strength of the TOPS program is that it enables us to meet with community members on a regular basis. Through face-to-face communication, we build strong personal and professional relationships with our community members throughout Africa.”
Since the TOPS program began, there have been more than 50 TOPS symposia in 25 different African countries, with CJTF-HOA staff helping deliver presentations. The more than 4,300 TOPS participants have included African military, government, and civil society officials.
The Africa Center is one of five U.S. Department of Defense regional centers for security studies. The Center offers a comprehensive program of seminars, symposia, conferences, research, and outreach activities designed to promote good governance and democratic values in the African defense and security sectors.
