Building partnership capacity and leveraging existing programs throughout U.S. governmental agencies along with western partners was a consistent theme at this year''s Trans Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) conference hosted by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in Garmisch, Germany April 26-30, 2011.

U.S. Departments of State (DOS) and Defense co-sponsored the event that brought together country teams from seven African and four European nations, State and Defense Department members, and other interagency personnel to collaborate on counterterrorism efforts in northern Africa.

""The conference is designed to synchronize, leverage and compliment existing counterterrorism efforts of U.S. DOS, DOD, and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other key U.S. government agencies,"" said Lieutenant Colonel David Quintero, deputy team chief for U.S. Africa Command''s Operation Enduring Freedom-Trans Sahara (OEF-TS) program.

Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership is a U.S. State Department-led interagency program aimed at defeating terrorist organizations by strengthening regional counterterrorism capabilities, enhancing cooperation amongst the regions security forces, promoting good governance and discrediting terrorist ideology.

The program''s overall goals are to enhance security cooperation capacities of governments of the Pan Sahel nations of Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. Additionally, TSCTP facilitates cooperation between these countries and Maghreb partners -- Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia -- in combating terrorism.

Security challenges such as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, civil unrest in Tunisia, narcotics and human trafficking and kidnappings threaten peace and stability in Africa and globally, which created the need for an event that brings together the international community to collaborate on counterterrorism activities.

U.S. AFRICOM''s OEF-TS program was developed to support the TSCTP, which works with partnership nations to assist in preventing terrorist acts and enhancing stability.

Other U.S. government partners working with TSCTP include the Department of Treasury, Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Western partners like France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada also have counterterrorism engagements throughout various regions of Africa.

The U.S, Canada and the Netherlands collaborated during the conference on ways to leverage existing programs, to avoid duplication of efforts and to provide more cost-effective programs for all governments involved. In recent years, the U.S. and U.K. militaries have begun to downsize their armed forces and have more limited resources to conduct their security engagements.

""Resource constraint is a problem for all countries,"" said Colonel Eric Nantz, U.S. Africa Command''s future operations branch chief. ""It certainly makes sense for the U.S. and our western partners to combine our resources whenever possible to leverage our programs to get the most out of our money.""

The conference held a series of sessions that allowed participants to collaborate and share their experiences and lessons learned in various subjects including: development; intelligence sharing; civil unrest in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt; kidnapping for ransom; regional challenges; illicit trafficking; and countering violent extremism.

One European Union officer shared his thoughts on the need for more security in the region.

""Delivery of development aid and humanitarian assistance is becoming increasingly dangerous due to security conditions,"" said Major J.B. Voulloux. ""Without poverty reduction and sustained development prospects, the security in the Sahel and other territories are at stake.""

The conference, held annually, brought together more than 150 international planners to communicate and collaborate, strengthening their partnership and counterterrorism efforts.