6th African Union - NATO Military to Military Staff Talks
The C-IED COE participated in the 6th African Union (AU) – NATO Military to Military Staff Talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 14-15 May 2019. The AU delegation was led by Major General Trust Mugoba, Chief of Staff for the African Standby Force and the NATO delegation was headed by Major General Jan Toft the Director of the IMS Cooperative Security Division.
The delegation discussed a number of topics that included the AU Conflict and Early Warning Division, Individual Courses and Mobile Training Teams (MTTs) for 2020, Regional Exercises in 2020, Trident Jackal 2019 and 2020 NATO Exercises, African Standby Force leadership training, NATO Centers of Excellence, Counter Terrorism, C-IED, Security Sector Reform (SSR), Building Integrity, Lessons Learned, and a multitude of other topics.
The NATO delegation identified 19 actions to be carried back to NATO Headquarters for action with one specifically related to C-IED. The AU will invite NATO to provide input to the development of the AU C-IED strategy, as part of consultations with international partners, before a validation meeting tentatively scheduled in September 2019.
At the conclusion of the event, Major General Toft conducted a back brief with the NATO Working Group along with Defense Attachés and Military Advisors that support military efforts within the AU. Additionally, the NATO Counter Terrorism Section discussed Countering Improvised Explosive Devices, Security Sector Reform and Building Integrity as promising areas of collaboration between NATO and the AU.
A future meeting is being planned for AU representatives to meet in Brussels at the NATO Headquarters to continue enchancing the NATO-AU relationship.