The planning component of the capacity started preparing for the holding of the first map exercise organized by the capacity since its launch in 2010 at the end of the year 2018, when planning began as of August 2018. The planning component decided to call it “Salam North Africa”. For this purpose, the preparatory, initial and main conference was held in Tunisia continuously during the period from 22 to 29 November 2018, and the final planning conference in Algeria from 21 to 24 December 2018. The exercise was carried out at the Rouiba Training Center in Algeria from 25 to 27 December 2018, over three days of continuous work. The “North African Peace” exercise aims to enhance the planning capabilities of joint operations of staff officers, verify decision-making mechanisms in the African Union and the capacity of the North African region at the level of the planning component, and familiarize the participants with the doctrine, policies and concepts of the ready-made African force, and enhance cooperation and coordination.
Participants
Members of the permanent components of the capability (the planning component, the brigade headquarters, and the administrative rules, including the civilian and police component).
Opening words
Major General/ Sherif Zarad, representative of the Algerian Ministry of National Defense, delivered a speech in which he welcomed the participants, expressing Algeria’s support for the capacity in all activities, and stressed that the activity is an important step to raise the operational level of the various components of the capacity as it allows the unification of concepts between the various member states, in line with It is applicable at the continental and regional levels and familiarity with them, taking into account the legal and political framework formed by the protocol founding the Peace and Security Council of the African Union and the memorandum of understanding establishing the capacity, especially the decision-making mechanism.
Major General Zarad stressed that the implementation of this exercise in its human dimension constitutes the first experiment of this scenario implemented by a region of the African Union.
After that, the Executive Secretary of Capacity, Mr. Ahmed Tagouri, gave a speech in which he expressed his happiness to be in the sister country of Algeria, the country of one million martyrs, and highly valued hosting this important and effective activity, which is the first exercise carried out by the Capacity since its inception, stressing that training is an essential pillar for raising the operational level of the capacity components. .
He pointed out that the Member States, since the inception of the capacity, have supported continuous support in order to move forward at a steady pace, and despite the difficulties experienced by the capacity, the will of the Member States was the real supporter of continuity and progress in order for our region to occupy its place among the regions.
Then the director of the exercise, Brigadier General Mohammed Ghouma Al-Shaibani, deputy head of the planning component, gave a presentation on the exercise, dealing with the idea of the exercise, the purposes for which it was designed, the stages in which implementation is carried out, and the objectives to be reached.
General purpose
The overall purpose of the “North African Peace” exercise is to raise the operational level of the capacity components of the North African region.
Exercise items
- Enhance planning capabilities for humanitarian operations.
- Strengthening joint planning for capacity staff officers.
- Verification of decision-making mechanisms in the African Union and the capacity of the North African region at the level of the planning component.
- Familiarize the participants with the doctrine, policies and concepts of the ready-made African force.
- Strengthening cooperation and coordination.
Training purposes
- Fully familiarity with the operational concept of the North African region’s capacity.
- Familiarize the participants with the decision-making process of the African Union and the capacity of the North African region.
- Familiarize the participants with the doctrine of the peace support operations of the African Standby Force.
- Familiarize participants with standard operations methods for the capacity and the African Standby Force.
- Exercising decision-making mechanisms in the African Union and in the capacity of the North African region.
- Consolidation of concepts during all steps of the exercise
- Practicing planning for humanitarian operations at the operational and tactical levels.
- Enhance planning and situational analysis capabilities.
exercise activities
You see the exercise in two stages:
First phase Tunisia 22 – 29 November 2018
- Exercise concept development conference.
- Initial conference.
- The main conference.
Second stage Algeria 20-30 December 2018
- Final Planning Conference.
- Implementation.
Exercise structure
- Exercise Supervisor: The Executive Secretary for Capacity, Mr. Ahmed Al-Tagouri.
- EXERCISE DIRECTOR/EXCON C–Dean of Staff Mohammed Ghouma Al-Shaibani
- Head of Mission: Mr. Bouzid Mohamed Yazid
- Force Commander: Brigadier General A. H. Muhammad Shaher
- Exercise Coordinator: Colonel Iskandar Bin Ayesh
- Realistic support: Colonel Hussein Tayyar – Abdel Moneim Khalaf Allah
- Head of Evaluation: Colonel Ahmed Boudinar
Doing the exercise
The “North African Peace” exercise used the Karana training scenario, which depicts the overall geopolitical situation of an imaginary island called Kisawa with the historical background of the crisis as well as the political, security, economic, cultural, humanitarian and legal conditions that lay the foundation for the response of the African Union in cooperation with the international community, and for this purpose an executive summary of this basic scenario From it, specific scenarios are formulated for the purpose of training and capacity development, targeting trainees from the capacity of the North African region.
Exercise methodology
The conference was divided into phases as follows:
- The first phase was held in Tunisia from 23 to 30 November 2018 and included three related conferences:
- The preparatory conference was held from November 23 to 25, 2018, where the strategic planning team prepared and discussed a draft of the idea and concept of the exercise, prepared the necessary documents for the initial planning conference, and coordinated the administrative arrangements for the participants.
- Initial Planning Conference: Held during the period November 26-27, 2018
- The results of the preparatory conference and the practical aspects of the exercise were discussed, and the participants were divided into six teams as follows:
- Strategic team: prepare strategic documents for the exercise, take over supervision and control, distribute tasks, and help prepare documents.
- Operations team: Prepared the idea of operations, developed the scenario, and discussed incidents during the course of the exercise.
- Control team: Take over the control and management of the groups during the implementation of the exercise.
- Scenario development team: studied the proposed scenario and developed it in line with the objectives of the exercise.
- Evaluation team: Prepared an evaluation plan for the exercise, recorded observations, and prepared the initial report.
- Communications team: Prepare the communications plan for the exercise and supervise its implementation.
- Master Planning Conference: Held 28-29 November 2018
- Where the results of the initial conference were discussed and the general idea of the exercise was formulated, the date of the final planning conference, the implementation of the exercise and all administrative arrangements.
- Final Planning Conference: Held on December 23-24, 2018
Where the results of the main conference were discussed and the general idea of the exercise was formulated and the date for the final planning conference and the implementation of the exercise were formulated
Execution: The implementation took place at the Rouiba Training Center in Algeria from 25 to 27 December 2018, over three days of continuous work, and its summary was the main documents of the following exercise.