AFRICOM Commander visits Togo and Benin

U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, continued a multi-day visit to West Africa, with stops in Togo and Benin, September 22-23.

By U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs , United States Africa Command Stuttgart, Germany Sep 23, 2021

View Gallery

Gallery contains 4 images

U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, continued a multi-day visit to West Africa, with stops in Togo and Benin, September 22-23. Townsend expressed the command’s readiness to help both partner nations increase their ability to secure their northern border areas from the terrorist threat and improve security cooperation across the region.

In Togo, Townsend and U.S. Ambassador Eric Stromayer met with President Faure Gnassingbe, Minister of Armed Forces Essozimna Marguerite Gnakade, Chief of Defense Staff General Dadja Maganawe, and other high-ranking security leaders to recognize the strong military ties between the United States and Togo, and to encourage Togo’s continued role in regional security.

“I commend Togo’s contributions to regional and maritime security through their peacekeeping deployments, active participation in naval exercises like Obangame Express, and other cooperative efforts. U.S. Africa Command looks forward to building upon our partnership through more focused bilateral training and assistance,” said Townsend.

In Benin, Townsend and U.S. Ambassador Patricia Mahoney met with President Patrice Talon, where he stressed that greater safety and security in northern Benin will benefit both Beninese citizens and broader regional security efforts.

“Our coastal West African partners share many security threats. Effectively countering those threats requires a cooperative regional approach. Like all of our security partners in West Africa, Benin has an important role. We continue to work with Benin and other partners to build capacity and improve interoperability,” said Townsend.

Together with U.S. Africa Command’s Senior Development Advisor, Barbara Hughes, Townsend also met with USAID’s Benin country representative, Carl Anderson, to discuss ways to cooperate in community strengthening and civil society approaches to thwarting the spread of violent extremist ideologies.

Exercise Obangame Express 23 aids maritime security and prosecution in the Gulf of Guinea

U.S. Partnering with Benin to combat piracy in Gulf of Guinea

Gen. Langley visits international partners enrolled at Marine Corps University

Naval Forces Africa joins allies, partners for Grand African NEMO 22

U.S. Africa Command Special Operations Forces train alongside partners in Benin

Benin

Togo

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

NAIROBI, Kenya – Among the flurry of tactical live fires and squad movement drills, air ground integration and even the humanitarian initiatives at exercise Justified Accord 2025 (JA25), lies the one thing those who serve in any armed force must follow: The Law. The Law of Armed Conflict, or LOAC, is a key aspect of training for any military. JA25’s academics course aimed at learning from the international legal lessons of previous wars in an effort to reduce the amount of human suffering in future conflicts. “The soldier’s rules are a broad set of rules that we have pulled from the large breadth of international law,” said U.S. Army Maj. Tim Olliges, an operational law attorney assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), the lead U.S. Army command and planner of JA25. “The LOAC is extensive and can be complex, so we pull out the ten most critical concepts that every soldier, right down to the private, should know before they go into combat.”

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

NAIROBI, Kenya – Imagine two scenarios. Scenario 1: Dawn breaks over the capital of Kenya. A U.S. diplomat leaves his residence for the embassy. After a 20-minute ride, his car arrives at the gate and he enters. He sits in his office to begin the day when, all of a sudden, he hears an explosion through the open window. It seems far off; it is not a large explosion. He thinks maybe it was just a car accident, but minutes later he smells something bitter in the air. His eyes water, sirens blare and a U.S. Marine Corps security detail enters his office wearing gas masks. They put a mask on him and tell him they must evacuate immediately because a deadly chemical is blowing over the compound. Scenario 2: U.S. intelligence receives credible information that radiological material is being loaded onto a ship in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. Time is short and no one knows which ship, only that it will embark soon, possibly bound for the hands of violent extremists or other state actors looking to imperil the U.S. homeland. There is no time to send U.S. security forces to intercept the package. Instead, the Kenyan Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) mobilizes and arrives at the port. Using tactics and tools gained from years of training with the United States, they find the ship and the weapon, placed there by a violent extremist organization, and prevent its departure, defeating the threat to America and its citizens. Similar scenarios have happened before in other areas of the world.

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

The U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and Belgian Ministry of Defence, in partnership with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Indo Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Chaplain Directorates, hosted the world’s largest annual meeting of senior military religious leaders at the 36th Annual NATO & Partner International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference (IMCCC) in Brussels, Belgium, January 27-31, 2025.

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels