The issue of narcotics trafficking brought 21 African senior military officers and civilian executives to a 10-day seminar at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany to discuss how to address the challenge.

Nearly 100 counter-narcotics experts from 61 countries participated in the George C. Marshall Center's Senior Executive Seminar 10-1, January 20-29, 2010, which focused on the complex security challenges posed by contemporary international narcotics trafficking and its links with terrorist networks and organized crime elements. The seminar participants examined how narcotics profits are used to fund terrorist activities, corrupt officials, and challenge and erode the authority of states.The forum was co-sponsored by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. European Command (EUCOM).

Among the 91 participants were 21 Africans from Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon., Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Swaziland, the Togolese Republic, and Uganda. In addition to English, German and Russian languages, this was the first time the Marshall Center provided French translation for the seminar.

A dozen speakers from a cross section of military and civilian disciplines, including Army General "Kip" Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, gave presentations to the group. Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes, deputy to the commander for civil-military activities for U.S. Africa Command, served as the graduation keynote speaker.

Holmes, whose background includes more than 15 years of experience in Africa and policy issues on Africa as a State Department employee, emphasized partnership and working together to address drug trafficking issues.

"The problem itself is regional. It is inherently multilateral," he said. "There's no such thing as a transit country. There's no such thing as a producing country. Virtually all countries are producing, transit and consuming countries."

Holmes also emphasized the importance of looking at the "long term investment in dealing with underlying issues related to regional security." He said, "The challenges in Africa are long term challenges."

He also acknowledged that the challenges cannot be overcome by applying a purely military solution. "We increasingly realized that what we needed to address the problem was an interagency approach," Holmes said.

The Marshall Center's Senior Executive Seminar is a forum that allows for the in-depth exploration of international security issues. Participants include high-level government officials, general officers, senior diplomats, ambassadors, ministers, and parliamentarians. The SES format includes presentations by senior officials and recognized experts followed by discussions in seminar groups.

"In today's globalized environment, counter-narcotics programs create intricate interdependencies within the international community which must be managed on numerous levels," said Dr. Jay Le Beau, director of the Senior Executive Seminar. "As a result, there will also be discussion on various regional approaches that have been implemented to combat this problem."

The 2010 Senior Executive Seminars concentrate on the broad topics of narcotics trafficking and terrorism, and their impact on security in Europe and beyond. By considering these issues as different aspects of the broader theme of international security, the complex interdependencies in international and networked security can be more easily understood.