The United States Army

02/08/2023 | News release | Distributed by Public on 02/08/2023 09:42

Planning continues for ALFS 23 in Cote d’Ivoire

[Link] Lt.Col Robert Miller shakes hands with Chief of Defense Staff of the Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire, Lieutenant General Lassina Doumbia during a planning meeting to discuss the upcoming African Land Forces Summit at the Ivoirian Army Headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan 25,2023 (Photo Credit: Neil Ruggiero)VIEW ORIGINAL

ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire -- Military planners for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) returned to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire Jan. 23-27 for the African Land Forces Summit (ALFS) main planning event. The planning event is part of ongoing preparation for ALFS, which is scheduled to take place in May.

In the months leading up to ALFS, planners met with counterparts in the Ivorian Army and U.S. Embassy Cote d'Ivoire in Abidjan. They toured potential hotels and culturally significant locations as well as met with vendors that will be part of the event. Planners gathered information such as cost, building capacity, security, connectivity capability for each location and most all used the meeting as an opportunity to continue to strengthen partnerships with their Ivoirian counterparts.

"The ALFS planning team and their hard work and the time spent organizing this event will pay dividends in the future. It will allow senior leaders the opportunities to have the strategic discussions necessary to build and maintain our partnerships in Africa," said Lt. Col. Robert Miller, international military engagements branch chief for SETAF and lead planner for ALFS.

The planners had a chance to continue getting to know the many local businesses and personnel that will be involved with the event. Additionally, the team previewed the events ALFS attendees will get to see.

ALFS is a weeklong event that hosts military leaders from more than forty African countries for training and partnership building with U.S. Army leaders. Last year ALFS took place at Ft. Benning, Georgia. ALFS 23 marks the return of ALFS to Africa for first time since 2020.

The final planning event is scheduled for late March and will consist of rehearsals as well as final meetings with local businesses and Ivorian representatives to finalize the event schedule and logistical requirements.

ALFS is hosted annually by SETAF-AF in order to bring together military leaders from the U.S. and Africa to discuss capabilities, build partnerships through face-to-face interaction, and discuss issues the partner forces are facing on the African continent.

About SETAF-AF

U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) provides U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Army Europe & Africa a dedicated headquarters to synchronize Army activities in Africa and scalable crisis response options in Africa and Europe.

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