Operation Relief Focus
African Crisis Response Initiative

US special forces are training African military forces to respond within 30 days when such regional humanitarian disasters strike. The goal of the African Crisis Response Initiative is to create effective, rapidly deployable units that can operate together in a humanitarian or peacekeeping operation. The program began in Senegal and Uganda in late July 1997 with the arrival of about 120 U.S. troops of the 3rd Special Forces Group and XVIII Airborne Corps, both of Fort Bragg, NC; US Army Europe; and US Special Operations Command. The American teams started 60-day training programs Aug. 1 for about 750 host nation soldiers in each country. Later in 1997, US teams were scheduled to train similar forces in Malawi, Ethiopia and Mali. The U.S. training teams use peacekeeping doctrine based on international standards. Training each battalion will cost the United States about $3 million, including $1 million in mainly nonlethal U.S. equipment, primarily communications gear such as hand-held radios.

Approximately 70 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Special Forces Group headquartered at Ft. Bragg, NC, accompanied by a Belgian military training element, along with U.S. support troops deployed on 01 April 1998, to begin training a battalion-size unit in Ghana. Other African nations that have joined the U.S. in an ACRI partnership include: Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, Mali and Ethiopia. Since the ACRI training program began in July 1997, the 3rd Special Forces Group had trained forces in Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, and Mali.

In July 1998 nine members of Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 364, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) deployed to Trinidad and Tobago in July to instruct 24 Trinidadian Special Operations Group soldiers. The ODA deployed as part of the Joint Combined Exchange Training program. Under a JCET, Special Forces travel to foreign countries to train host-nation forces. Their training objectives include developing their own language skills, learning the area, cultural immersion, and improving both their training skills and their proficiency in the Special Forces Mission Essential Task List.

In November 2000 teams of Special Forces soldiers and military medical personnel deployed to created more stability in West Africa. Operation Focus Relief, a U.S. State Department initiative, ws designed to improve the effectiveness of the Nigerian military in helping United Nations initiatives in West Africa. The brunt of the training, military officials have acknowledged, was geared toward handling the Revolutionary United Front, a group of vicious Sierra Leone rebels that has battled U.N. peacekeepers and the Sierra Leone government over diamond fields in the country. About 250 members of the 3rd Special Forces Group Airborne from Fort Bragg, NC, taught Nigerian troops how to use mortars, light anti-tank weapons and M-60 machine guns. Training was halted for about 10 days in October when roughly 80 unknown Nigerian soldiers arrived unexpectedly to take part in the mission. The operation was suspended while US State Department officials checked if any of the new soldiers had been accused of past human rights abuses. The United States only will train soldiers who have passed the human rights abuses background check. The Nigerians, who have been criticized in the past for tolerating human rights abuses, are receiving instruction on how to handle civilians and prisoners. The training culminated in mid-December when 750 Nigerian soldiers held a coordinated company-level attack and defense simulation. The $20 million training program was part of $66 million in military aid and training the United States extended to Nigeria. The 3rd Special Force Group had recently trained soldiers in Senegal, Uganda and Malawi to conduct effective peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations.

In August 2001 about 200 US Army Special Forces soldiers concluded training two battalions of soldiers in Ghana and Senegal in peacekeeping skills as part of Operation Focus Relief. The second phase of Operation Focus Relief, the deployment equipped and trained the African soldiers so they can help conduct peacekeeping missions in other African nations. Most of the participating U.S. soldiers were from the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) and US Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C. Additional soldiers from U.S. Army Europe also participated. Ghanaian and Senegalese battalions received about 1,500 sets of individual equipment, including rucksacks, canteens and new uniforms and boots. The U.S. military also armed the soldiers with M16 rifles and light machine guns, and equipped them with 2?-ton cargo trucks, medical supplies and communications equipment.