The United States has pledged to donate approximately $80 million in upgraded military equipment to Zambia. This is a “Grant to Zambia that will supply four Bell 412EP helicopters to the Zambian Air Force with three years of service, spare parts and training for the helicopters..”
The donation was announced on the first day of the 2023 African Senior Enlisted Leaders Conference (2023 ASEL), by US Marine Corps General Michael Langley, who serves as the sixth commander of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM). “The United States Government will provide four new high-performance Bell helicopters to the Zambian Defense Forces. These helicopters will enable Zambia to continue supporting UN peacekeeping missions across Africa and strengthen Zambia’s commitment to regional security,” Langley said at the meeting co-hosted by Zambia and AFRICOM from September 10 to 13.
At a special briefing held on Tuesday, Langley emphasized that it was his honor to be “in the Republic of Zambia for the fifth AFRICOM Senior Enlisted Leaders Conference, and the first held on the African continent.” The AFRICOM Public Affairs Office characterized it as “prioritizing face-to-face engagement to build our relationships and support partners in Africa.” He was a key speaker at the 2023 ASEL Conference whose theme was “Empower, Delegate, Trust.”
Reflecting on the importance of this year’s conference theme, Mr. Langley said: “If you look at the officers who lead the armies, we use our right-hand advisors, the senior military, the senior enlisted . Empower, delegate and trust is what we will continually do [do]—These are the best practices that we extend to our non-commissioned personnel.”
He explained: “I want to reiterate that a strong and empowered NCO corps is truly the backbone of any military. I learned this firsthand as a child, as my father proudly served as a senior enlisted leader in the United States Air Force. “I learned from him and then I learned from all the NCOs I work with.”
He said the conference is a place “where we listen to each other, share best practices and continue to strengthen our relationships and mutual understanding.”
Discussions were held on the challenges that both the United States and African countries must overcome. The conference also explored “our opportunities,” said AFRICOM Command Lead Enlisted Master Sergeant Michael Woods, who accompanied Mr. Langley on his visit to Lusaka.
“That includes everything from crisis response, the rule of law, the protection of natural resources and ways to mitigate the many factors that cause instability,” Woods added.
He described the work of AFRICOM and the United States and what they have achieved as a direct result of dialogue with African states. He said AFRICOM is “working with senior non-commissioned officers of African armies. Now, professional and skilled enlisted leaders strengthen our partner-led, U.S.-backed operations. “Now, this conference is another example of our efforts to coordinate and cooperate with our African partners.”
More than 125 defense leaders from 27 African countries participated in the military-to-military engagement with the AFRICOM Public Affairs Office placing special emphasis on Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi and Senegal. At the meeting’s first launch in 2017, the conference began with 37 percent participation from African countries. This was followed in the following years by increased growth, in terms of the size of African countries’ participation: more and more countries made the decision to attend the AFRICOM conference, year after year. This further increased their commitment to the point that even the agendas of planned meetings reflected explicit agenda items that had been specifically requested by African countries.
At the 2023 ASEL Advocacy Meeting, “we had large group discussions and also held more focused breakout sessions where smaller groups can have in-depth discussions about what works, what doesn’t work, and how we can better support each other. “To train the next generation of competent and committed enlisted leaders,” Mr. Woods said.
General Langley with the Zambian Minister of Defense
AFRICOM Commander Langley said he called for transparency at the conference.
“I will tell you that this year 27 African partners participated in the conference, which represents 50 percent of the 53 countries in our area of operations. We build our agenda based on the feedback and request of our [African] partner countries. And our goal is to be responsive partners, especially focused on course development for the new sergeant major academies and NCO professional military development institutions and programs,” Woods said, emphasizing that they have the full support of Langley. “It allowed us to plan and execute these conferences. He said they heard Langley “loud and clear” that “the bottom line is that enlisted leadership is a game-changer, and when General Langley says it, people listen.”
Furthermore, Mr. Langley said: “I will just add one more thing and summarize it with the three words that happen to be the topic of your lecture. When I look at the NCO staff or NCO corps as the backbone of our military services, it’s about leaders, officer leadership that empowers staff NCOs, delegates tasks and expectations to staff NCOs, and extends the trust. That about sums it up, so you guys chose the right theme this year to share our ideas and best practices with our African partners.”
Outlining an overview of AFRICOM’s achievements, Mr. Langley said: “At a 10,000-foot view, yes, there are a number of activities that we do, but they fit the theme that I stipulated. Our African partners have their prescribed national objectives. There are 53 countries with my AOR and they all have different objectives and sets, but those we reach out to and work in partnership to address their challenges and also be able to take advantage of the opportunities. There are a number of things that are in sync with our US national security interests. Therefore, creating strategic partnerships with our African partners is also at the forefront of our planning, joint work and partnership and capacity building, and is institutionalized in their militaries and then also in the threat deterrence arena. A series of capacity-building opportunities, whether through exercises, combined exchange training, or security force assistance, are several ways we achieve these activities of working collectively to achieve our common goals based on our common values. ”.
At the 2023 Africa Senior Enlisted Conference, “We’ve had really deep, robust conversations, debates about difficult leadership choices and the importance of ethical leadership, mentoring and delegation strategies that make better military leaders. This is just one of the military conferences that focused on specific topics, such as the maritime domain, land forces, air forces and intelligence sharing. “Each conference increases our mutual understanding and improves our relationships,” said Mr. Woods.
As for “long-lasting relationships,” I want to highlight that we also have members of the US State Partnership Program, who are paired with African nations that participated in this conference and who often attend our other military conferences. These state associations in Africa are as old or older than USAFRICOM,” Mr. Woods explained. He cited an example: “The Michigan State Partnership Program has partnered with the Liberian military” to enhance and help develop various military skills.
Pearl Matibe is a Washington, DC-based White House correspondent and media commentator with experience in American foreign policy and international security. You can follow her on Twitter: @PearlMatibe