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Ambassador Garvey Opens Africa Endeavor Planning Conference
On March 10, 2009 at le Meridien Hotel in Douala, U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon Janet Garvey presided over the opening ceremony of the Africa Endeavor planning conference, a United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) communication exercise. She addressed a crowd of more than 200 delegates from 25 mostly African countries gathered in Cameroon’s economic capital of Douala for the second planning conference of Africa Endeavor 2009, the largest multinational communication exercise on the continent and the second largest in the world. In her remarks, Ambassador Garvey thanked the government of Cameroon for its commitment and dedication in the preparation of the event and emphasized the vital role of “successful communication, which can be the difference between conflict and calm, war and peace, and in many cases life and death.” Cameroon’s representative, General Saly Mohamadou, and the AFRICOM representative and exercise director of Africa Endeavor 2009, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Watson, also addressed the conference. Both men focused on the importance of the exercise and encouraged the delegates to take advantage of the opportunity to share experiences and challenges with each other.
Africa Endeavor is a joint exercise between the African Union (AU) and AFRICOM. Its intent is to encourage interoperability and information sharing among African nations via communication networks and collaborative communications links with the United States, NATO and other nations with common stability, security, and sustainment goals and objectives for the African continent.
The nations and international organizations attending the four-day planning conference included: the AU, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Switherland,Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The first planning conference took place in Dakar, Senegal in January. The last planning conference will be held in Libreville, Gabon in May, and the final exercise will occur in Libreville in July.