GHANA TO HOST AFRICA ENDEAVOUR EXERCISE (PAGE 5, MARCH 2, 2010)

Ghana has won the bid to host this year’s Africa Endeavour exercise for military establishments across the continent.
The event, which would be attended by more than 30 other African nations, is a military communication exercise which focuses on the interoperability and information sharing among nations working in partnership with United States Africa Command (Africom).
The exercise would be in three phases, which would tackle issues of networking fundamentals, server administration/management and core services of the militaries of participating countries.
Speaking to journalists at Kelly Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, Commander Britt Talbert, Director of programme for Africom, said the goal of Africa Endeavour was to develop command, control and communication tactics, techniques and procedures that could be used by the African Union (AU) in support of member countries in the areas of improved humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, peacekeeping, among others.
When the exercise started four years ago, Commander Britt Talbert said it had limited number of participants.
He said favourable testimonies from various countries which met at peacekeeping and other engagements on the continents had resulted in the increase in participation.
He said the endeavour, since its inception, had harmonised communications between nations, as well as sharing of technical expertise at a minimal cost.
The programme director said in the areas of communication during natural disasters which needed immediate evacuation, countries were able to easily communicate to save the situation.
Commander Tablet said during the exercises, all the countries that had confirmed their participation would come with their communication systems where experts from various countries would help create harmonised environment, easy networking and sharing of information that would protect interests of member countries.
He said some of the goals of Africom’s Africa Endeavour were to increase capacity of African nations by encouraging interoperability and translating AU operational requirements into capacity-building opportunities.
The exercise director said the endeavour also provided critical capability for peacekeeping and stable military operations and humanitarian assistance which enhanced timely and effective delivery of relief items to areas they were needed most.