News

08 October 1997

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL OUTLINES ACRI TO CONGRESS

(Kerns calls it a "positive" initiative)  (1050)



WASHINGTON -- Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African
Affairs Vincent Kern told the House Africa Subcommittee on October 8
that the all-African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI), a U.S.-African
peacekeeping partnership, is "something positive" for the continent.


Kern explained to lawmakers that the ACRI is "a training initiative
designed to create highly effective, rapidly-deployable peacekeeping
units, which can operate jointly."


Kern made plain that "we do not intend to create a standing African
force and we are not providing training to create elite forces for
instability. We are solely interested in providing training in those
areas which are the traditional tasks associated with any peacekeeping
operation: establishment of checkpoints, perimeter security, convoy
security, the processing of displaced persons and the like."


Following is the Mr. Kerns text as prepared for delivery:



(BEGIN TEXT)



Distinguished members, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the
opportunity to today to appear before you and discuss what we at the
Department of Defense view, as was recently stated by a member of the
foreign press to one of my staff observing ACRI training in Uganda, as
"something positive for Africa." The concept of an ability to address
humanitarian crises and peacekeeping requirements within Africa, by
Africans, is not a new idea; our friends in Africa, our allies the
British and the French, and several others have proposed this concept
in several different forms in the past.


The ACRI as we know it now originally began as a proposal to plan for
the worst case scenario in central Africa, given the horrendous events
in Rwanda in the Spring of 1994. We foresaw a military capability that
would be able to rapidly assemble and deploy in order to prevent
another descent into anarchy and the needless loss of life. We
discussed this concept with both our African and non-African allies
around the world; they recommended that we expand the concept beyond
simply one region of Africa to that of something which could not only
address that problem, but also provide the capability to respond to
future events. Therefore, the Department of Defense and the Department
of State have further refined this concept to what is now known as the
Africa Crisis Response Initiative, or the ACRI.


The ACRI concept envisions a U.S. partnership with African and
non-African countries to build and improve African crisis response
capabilities. It provides a unique opportunity to improve the
operational capabilities of African militaries, making them better
prepared to conduct either limited humanitarian or peacekeeping
operations. Let me emphasize that the ACRI is a training initiative
designed to create highly effective, rapidly-deployable peacekeeping
units, which can operate jointly.


This expansion of the concept beyond that originally envisioned has
generated a great deal of interest both within and outside Africa, and
we will admit that there are those who are suspicious of our motives.
We do not intend to create a standing African force and we are not
providing training to create elite forces for instability. We are
solely interested in providing training in those areas which are the
traditional tasks associated with any peacekeeping operation:
establishment of checkpoints, perimeter security, convoy security, the
processing of displaced persons and the like.


We are providing non-lethal equipment which is required by any
organization anticipating involvement in peacekeeping operations or
humanitarian crises. This includes communications gear, water
purification units, some night vision binoculars, mine detectors, and
the like. In order to ensure that individual soldiers have the
necessary personal equipment, we have provided uniforms, boots,
load-carrying equipment such as belts and packs, and entrenching
tools.


Just as for U.S. troops, force protection is of paramount importance
to us. Therefore, we are providing ammunition for marksmanship
training (and only for training) to enable peacekeepers to be able to
properly defend themselves (as has been necessary in several recent
peacekeeping operations). We have asked each of those nations
volunteering troops for this initiative to sign end-use and
non-transfer agreements to ensure that 1) this equipment is used only
for peacekeeping and humanitarian purposes and 2) that it is ready if
and when the call comes. We see these agreements as critical to the
viability of the ACRI if it is ever called into action, and also as
contributing to our efforts to make this initiative as transparent as
possible to the outside observer.


The training is provided by both the 3rd and 5th Special Forces
Groups, both of whom have portions of the African continent within
their areas of operations. The training lasts approximately 60 days,
and is conducted by approximately 43 special forces trainers backed up
by approximately 15 logistic, maintenance and support instructors. The
training culminates in a field training exercise (FTX), during which
the unit's performance is evaluated. Those areas in which additional
work is required are the subject of follow-up "sustainment" training
which occurs at approximately four and eight months, respectively,
following the completion of the first phase of training.


The ACRI training is open to any and all nations who are interested in
participating as either trainers or observers, given that the host
nation approves their participation. We have actively sought to
include both nongovernmental organizations and the media as not only
observers, but also as role-playing participants in the training. In
the training recently concluded in Uganda and Senegal, the
participation of both those communities resulted in a greatly enhanced
and realistic training evolution. We seek their participation in all
our future training, for this not only provides a better training
environment, but it also creates a better sense of understanding as to
our motives. We hope to see both communities involved in the training
in Malawi, and we invite their inquires.


In conclusion, we see the ACRI as an opportunity not only for
Africans, but also for ourselves. While enhancing African peacekeeping
capabilities, it also improves our opportunity to demonstrate to
others the American soldier's respect for democratic civilian
authority and his concern for human rights and individual dignity. We
truly see the ACRI as "something positive for Africa."


(END TEXT)