Africa Center for Strategic Studies

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies, located at the National Defense University (NDU) at Fort Lesley J. McNair, welcomed on Mar. 2, 2010, 62 military officers representing 38 African nations to its 2010 Next Generation of African Military Leaders Course. The four-week program, which continues through Mar. 26, will focus on enhancing professionalism, ethics and leadership in African militaries. The officers will examine Africa’s contemporary and emerging security threats and analyze civil-military relations on the continent to determine the role and place of professional military officers in advancing national security in democratizing states. In his opening remarks, Ambassador William M. Bellamy (retired), Africa Center Director, said, “I do not need to tell this audience of African military officers that very few of the security threats facing African states today can be resolved by military means alone. All elements of national power must be harnessed to deal with the multiple sources of insecurity that exist in most African states today.” “The most successful leaders, military and civilian,” he continued, “will be those who recognize this requirement and are able to bring whole-of-government approaches to bear on the security problems they face.” Watch the video of Ambassador William M. Bellamy' opening remarks Ambassador Thomas C. Krajeski, NDU Senior Vice President, welcomed the course participants to Washington, D.C. He cited what President Barack Obama said about a year ago when he opened the newest building at NDU: “It falls to institutions like this and individuals like you—and he would have included you within this group as well—to help us understand the world as it is, to develop the capacity that we need to confront emerging danger, and to active purpose and pragmatism to turn this moment of peril into one of promise. That is how we will find new pathways to peace and prosperity. That is the work we must do.” Watch the video of Ambassador Thomas C. Krajeski' speech Brigadier General Dominique Djindéré, Chief of Defense Staff, Burkina Faso and keynote speaker at the opening session of the course, spoke about Africa’s security challenges and the importance of senior military leadership in the region. Explaining that the challenges facing Africa’s defense and security sector are numerous and originate from both within and outside the sector itself, he said, “In both cases, the nature and the quality of the command and leadership exercised by the senior officers constituting the entire chain of command, in their mission to establish a ‘new military governance,’ are what determines the ability to effectively address those challenges.” “In any given country, however,” General Djindéré stressed, “the expression of a strong political will and respect for the rules of democratic governance by all the socio-political stakeholders of that country are the true catalysts that will make it possible to attain that level of effectiveness.” In closing, General Djindéré reminded the African officers in the audience that “you must be the catalysts for creating defense and security forces that are in perfect harmony with the changes and obligations of democracy and progress so ardently desired for the African continent.” Click to Read General Djindéré’s Speech Pointing out that the course is accredited, with eligible officers receiving three semester hours of graduate-level credit, Monde Muyangwa, Ph.D., the Africa Center’s Academic Dean, said, “The accreditation of our Next Generation of African Military Leaders Course further establishes the Africa Center as a solid academic institution focusing on strategic-level African security and policy issues.” The officers attending the course, mostly majors and lieutenant colonels, were selected by their countries to attend the course because of their command experience or staff responsibilities as well as their recognized leadership potential. The course has been offered at least once a year since 2005. The program is devoted to leadership and ethics in the context of issues ranging from developing and implementing a national security strategy and aligning resources to national security goals to civil-military relations, security and democracy. Other sessions will be devoted to military, human rights and humanitarian law, conflict management and peace support operations, counter-terrorism in Africa, and security sector reform. Complementing the rigorous classroom work taught by African, American and European experts, the African officers will also travel to the Army War College at Carlisle, Pa.; Quantico Marine Corps Base; the Pentagon; State Department and Congress to learn more about effective civil-military cooperation, good governance and democratization.

With approximately 75 members and guests attending, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies launched its International Alumni Chapter during ceremonies on Feb. 11 at the InterContinental Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The International Alumni Chapter is the first of its kind. Unlike the 23 ACSS national chapters that comprise members from a single country, the International Alumni Chapter is a diverse group of international members from the diplomatic community, African Union, United Nations, non-governmental organizations, retired Government of Ethiopia officials, and other civilian experts and scholars who have participated in Africa Center programs and who are currently assigned in Addis Ababa. The International Alumni Chapter, with its 31 founding members, aims to strengthen relations among countries and to facilitate professional dialogue among chapter members. Africa Center Director Ambassador William M. Bellamy (ret.) was on hand at the opening ceremony to congratulate chapter members on the launch of their chapter and to present to them their official charter. Also making remarks were Dr. Tulinabo Mushingi, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy to Ethiopia, and Yemane Kidane, Chair of the International Alumni Chapter. The Africa Center’s Community Chapter Program, begun in 2003, has steadily grown in response to requests by Africa Center program participants, to include high-ranking government and civil society leaders and experts, who have called for the establishment of such chapters to continue the dialogue and increase understanding about contemporary African security issues. Following the opening ceremony, chapter members and invited guests devoted the balance of the day to a Topical Outreach Program (TOPS) that delved into the issues of U.S. sanctions in Somalia and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa. Ms. Kristen Hecht, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Policy Advisor to U.S. Africa Command, discussed U.S. sanctions in Somalia. Colonel Xavier Collignon, Africa Center Senior French Representative, spoke about post-conflict reconstruction.

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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.

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Seven members of a U.S. Department of State-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program visited the Africa Center for Strategic Studies on Feb. 19, with Ambassador James McGee, Senior Diplomatic Advisor, welcoming the group and briefing them about the Center’s organization, mission, academic and outreach programs, and research and publications initiatives. Program visitors were: Ambassador Claude Ruben Kpede Fassinou, Benin’s Chief of State Protocol; Mr. Nokour Guet Adoum Dangai, member of the Chadian Parliament; Mr. Mouctar Diallo, President of Guinea’s New Democratic Forces; Mr. Housseini Intifaskiwen, Deputy Director, Development Agency of North Mali; Mr. Calton Sergio Salvador Cadeado, a lecturer from Mozambique; Mr. Hima Badié, Niger’s National Advisor of Education; and Mr. Young Kigbara, Program Officer, Environment and Sustainable Development, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. Joining Ambassador McGee in hosting the visitors and answering their questions were Dr. Mathurin C. Houngnikpo, Academic Chair of Civil-Military Relations, and Colonel Xavier Collignon, Senior French Representative to the Africa Center. The groups’ visit to the Africa Center was in support of the Department of State’s objectives to enhance the participants’ understanding of U.S. perspectives about the use of dispute resolution and preventive diplomacy in domestic and international situations. Other objectives included familiarizing participants with the diverse perspectives of public and private organizations active in alternative diplomacy and conflict resolution; providing them with an understanding of various techniques for mitigating or resolving a variety of conflicts and disputes resulting from ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, and regional differences; and introducing them to the training of conflict resolution specialists by universities and professional organizations.  

 

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies currently has an ambitious Topical Outreach Program (TOPS) underway in East Africa. The mission began in Moroni, Comoros, on Jan. 16 and will conclude in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Feb. 12. In addition to Comoros and Ethiopia TOPS, programs are also being held in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Djibouti. TOPS is the Africa Center’s primary program for maintaining active, positive, and substantive Africa Center relationships with its alumni organizations known as “Community Chapters.” It was established in July 2007. Under TOPS, ACSS outreach staff, faculty, and leaders travel to each African country in which an ACSS community chapter exists (and to selected countries where chapter start-up is imminent) to conduct topical programs for ACSS communities of interest. There are currently 23 chapters. The programs in each country range in length from half- or full-day symposiums to multi-day programs based on the needs and interests of each chapter, American embassies, and host-nation governments. 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 we are very, very flexible and are able to respond to the needs of the community in a responsive and comprehensive way.” TOPS and other Africa Center education and outreach programs are helping to build long-term relationships between senior U.S. and African leaders. It is, as Mr. Bernath observed, a two-way street: “It helps American leaders to better understand African perspectives on U.S. policies and programs; and also helps African leaders better understand--not necessarily agree with--U.S. goals and policies towards the continent.” Since the TOPS program began, there have been some 50 TOPS symposia in 25 different African countries. The 4,300 participants have included African military, government, and civil society officials. The TOPS currently in progress includes the launch of the Comoros Community Chapter, the 23d ACSS Community Chapter in Africa. In Burundi, where national elections are scheduled for July 23, U.S. Ambassador Pamela Slutz told community members: “We are proud to join forces with the Africa Center, and also with our other international partners to provide financial and technical support for the electoral process in 2010. But it is clearly the Burundians who will make their elections a success.” The current TOPS trip is being led by community affairs specialist Mary McGurn.

Please check our website for more information about TOPS, the community chapters, and updates of specific TOPS events.

Fox News Homeland Security Correspondent Catherine Herridge interviewed Ambassador William M. Bellamy (ret.), Director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, on Jan. 11. Ambassador Bellamy expressed concern that the Somali insurgent group Al Shabaab is capable of an attack similar to the failed attempt on Northwest Airline flight 253 on Christmas Day. That attack was organized by the Yemini-based group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al Shabaab (The Youth) is an Islamic organization that controls much of southern Somalia. The United States put Al Shabaab on the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2008. Prior to joining the Africa Center, Ambassador Bellamy was U.S. ambassador to Kenya from 2003 to 2006. He became director of the Center in October 2008. Read the Fox News’ Catherine Herridge’s report Read about Ambassador Bellamy

In a recently released communiqué, election experts and practitioners from across Africa have called on African countries to ratify the African Union’s (AU) charter on elections and enforce its standards to achieve more peaceful and credible elections. The AU Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, adopted in 2007 and which requires ratification by at least 15 AU member states, calls on African governments to commit to “transparent, free and fair elections” and a “conducive environment for independent and impartial election monitoring or observation mechanisms.” The “Accra Communiqué of the Colloquium on African Elections” is the product of deliberations from more than 100 practitioners and experts who participated in “The Colloquium on African Elections: Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration” in Accra, Ghana, on Nov. 12-14, 2009. Participants convened to assess recent elections across the continent and to develop recommendations for standards that could mitigate conflict and improve election processes.

Read the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs’ News Release

Read the “Accra Communiqué of the Colloquium on African Elections”

Communiqué recommendations are aimed at enhancing prospects for credible elections in Africa by heightening standards of professionalism among election administration officials, political parties, civic groups, security services and the news media. The colloquium focused on Ghana’s 2008 elections, which were universally viewed as credible despite heated political tensions and a razor-thin margin between the candidates. The Ghanaian experience also represented the second time in less than a decade that political power has changed hands from the ruling to an opposition party through the ballot box. Effective collaboration among all sectors of the electoral process helped ease tensions, enhanced transparency and built voter confidence in the election results. Colloquium participants explored the differences between the Ghanaian experience and elections in other countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, which experienced gross irregularities, fraud and violence. They looked at the factors that contributed to different outcomes in each of these cases and discussed how to foster credible elections on the continent based on these case studies. Co-organizers of the colloquium included the National Democratic Institute, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, Open Society Initiative for West Africa and United Nations Development Programme.

Because orientation and coordination among U.S. government agencies is a key component to building international partnerships and a more secure and stable Africa, 13 American military officers from the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) visited the Africa Center for Strategic Studies on Dec. 14, 2009 for an orientation by the Center’s Deputy Director, Michael E. Garrison, Colonel, U.S. Army (ret.). Colonel Garrison discussed the Africa Center’s core programs and thematic workshops that are held in Africa and the U.S. He also highlighted the Africa Center’s future programs in East Africa and welcomed even greater coordination between Africa Center faculty and outreach staff with CJTF-HOA. Discussing the Africa Center’s outreach efforts towards the continent, Clifford H. Bernath, the Africa Center’s Director of Community Outreach and Public Affairs, highlighted the 22 community chapters, including those in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, and the Center’s Topical Outreach Program. The officers’ visit to the Africa Center served as a follow-up to the Center’s regional orientation program conducted for new CJTF-HOA staff members in Norfolk, Virginia, on Dec. 1-2. Organized by the Africa Center’s former Academic Chair of Counter Terrorism, Dr. Andre LeSage, who spoke about Somalia, the participants also received country-specific briefings from regional experts and an overview of the terrorism threat. Dr. Brad Gutierrez, the Center’s Academic Chair of Security Studies, gave a presentation about the African Peace and Security Architecture. CJTF-HOA is a joint task force of United States Africa Command. As a model for the integration of defense, diplomacy, and development efforts, CJTF-HOA’s vision is to build friendships, forge relationships, and create partnerships to enable African solutions to African challenges. In order to facilitate communication and coordination with defense, diplomatic, and development organizations, CJTF-HOA deploys a Country Coordination Element (CCE) to serve as a liaison to American embassies, the United States Agency for International Development, and other organizations. Three of the 13 military officers who were in attendance for the orientation at the Africa Center will be deploying to East Africa as CCEs for CJTF-HOA. Helping organize CJTF-HOA’s visit to the Africa Center, JR McCutcheon, Director of Unified Action, Department of the Navy, said, “This presentation will go a long way to helping the CJTF-HOA Country Coordination Elements better achieve their mission once they deploy in January next year.”

Above: The Africa Center’s Deputy Director, Michael E. Garrison, Colonel, U.S. Army (ret.), addresses 13 American military officers from the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa during their orientation visit to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies on Dec. 14. 2009

De retour d’une visite de six mois dans son pays, le militant John Githongo a offert ses impressions et ses observations quant au processus de réforme politique, électorale et constitutionnelle au Kenya pendant une discussion organisée le 18 décembre au Centre d’études stratégiques de l’Afrique à Washington. Pendant ce programme, coorganisé par le CSIS et le CESA, M. Githongo a évalué les perspectives de stabilité pendant cette période qui doit mener à l’élection présidentielle de 2011 au Kenya. L’ambassadeur William M. Bellamy (à la retraite), directeur du CESA et ancien ambassadeur des États-Unis au Kenya, animait le programme. M. Githongo est un ancien journaliste qui a mené des enquêtes sur la corruption et la fraude au Kenya. Le président Mwai Kibaki, dont le programme électoral était basé sur la lutte contre la corruption, l’avait nommé Secrétaire permanent pour la gouvernance et l’éthique en 2003. M. Githongo a démissionné en 2005 et s’est installé au Royaume-Uni. Lauréat du Prix 2009 du Visionnaire : Accomplissements en matière de paix et de sécurité décerné par le CESA, M. Githongo demeure un adversaire infatigable de la corruption.

Écoutez les remarques de John Githongo et le programme tout entier d’une heure et demie sur le site du CSIS

Lisez le discours d’acceptation de John Githongo lors de la remise du Prix 2009 du Visionnaire : Accomplissements en matière de paix et de sécurité

 

ACSS is happy to publish Program Highlights for its recently completed Community Leadership Conference (CLC) held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in August 2009. The Africa Center Community Chapter program--supported by the CLC and other outreach programs--is designed to support and encourage ACSS community members in establishing and sustaining alumni organizations in their respective countries in order to continue building on the lessons and experiences they gained from participating in Africa Center programs. U.S. leaders, both government and civil society, have been able to take advantage of access to these senior African leaders by meeting with chapter members during official visits to the continent. Through chapter projects such as research papers, conferences and other professional events, chapters have become a valuable network devoted to enhancing African perspectives of national security issues. This document summarizes the main points discussed during the conference. English [PDF] French [PDF]