Military

24 March 2005

Military Task Force Drills Wells, Runs Clinics in Horn of Africa

Major General Helland briefs Pentagon reporters on mission of peace

By Charles W. Corey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, which is responsible for counterterrorism operations in that region for the U.S. Central Command, is waging war against terrorism by “waging peace” in local communities, Major General Samuel T. Helland said March 23.

The task force’s mission is to conduct counterterrorism activities in the Horn of Africa, Helland explained, and “part of that job is enhancing security and stability, and bringing a better life for the people who live there … .  So we help with the schools, the clinics, engineering.  We drill wells.”

Speaking via satellite link to reporters who cover the U.S. Defense Department, Helland said, “We identify core competencies [strengths] … in the host nations and partner nations, and draw upon those to enforce and to reinforce and to facilitate those capabilities in areas such as border security training, maritime interdiction operations training; civil-military operations.”

In conducting what he termed "unconventional warfare," Helland told the reporters, the United States works with host and partner nations to identify civil-military activities that will help the local people meet their needs, focusing “on capacity-building [enhancing people's ability to meet the development challenges they face].”

Close cooperation and interaction with the host nations is essential, he said.  “If we can build the foundation as we build our capacity-building in the nations, we can build a better security, better stability, and a better life for the people who live there.  If we can separate the population from the terrorist activity in the region, then the terrorists won't have any place for support, nor will they have any group or population that they can use to pass on their extremist ideology.”

Helland reminded his audience that there are terrorist networks “alive and well” in the Horn of Africa, such as the Eritrean Islamic Jihad, the Somali Islamic radical group al-Ittihad al-Islamiya (Islamic Unity, or AIAI), the Somali Mujahideen, and even the Lord's Resistance Army, which is very active in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

“I wouldn't -- couldn't -- believe they don't know each other,” Helland said.  “And I suspect that they are connected to the worldwide network, just like we are.”

Productive civil-military operations are probably the most effective weapon against the spread of terrorism, Helland said, because such operations “win the trust, the confidence, and build the credibility of the people that we work for.  Once they [the people of the region] have trust and confidence -- in us and the coalition nations -- they can get on to building a better life.”

At the same time, he added, the joint task force he commands also works closely with the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development and nongovernmental organizations.  “We exchange information … and provide the information that we receive from the different organizations to host nations so they can prosecute the terrorists and can take the actions necessary to counter [terrorist] activity in the area.”

Referring to the Combined Joint Task Force, Helland explained that it incorporates 13 coalition staff officers from several countries, including Romania, South Korea, Uganda, Kenya, Yemen, Djibouti, France and Great Britain, into a force that joins all the services -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.

“The force is based at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti,” he said, “and has an operational area, which runs all the way from the Sudan to include Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and the Seychelles,” with additional interests in Tanzania and Uganda because they border the big countries of Sudan and Kenya.

Asked if his task force is engaged in nation building, Helland said: “It is not fair to assign the title ‘nation building’ to what we're doing, because we are not doing nation building.  We're doing capacity building,” or helping the local people surmount the development challenges they face so they can live a better life.

The task force has proven its effectiveness to the host populations over time, Helland said in response to a question.  The first civil-military operations -- medical and veterinarian civil-affairs projects -- within the first two weeks drew only 50 people for medical treatment and about 250 goats, camels and donkeys for veterinary care.

In contrast, he said, medical and veterinary clinics conducted in Kenya the week of March 13 drew more than 3,000 men, women and children, and more than 31,000 animals for appropriate care.

“We've learned over time that if we announce what we're doing, if we tell the people the truth, if we show them that we're sincere and honest and trustworthy, they'll show up and participate with us,” he said.

On a similar note, Helland said his task force has been invited to help repair mosques in Ethiopia and increase coastal security and maritime interdiction operations in Yemen.

“Less than two years ago, we started out with no coast guard capability in Yemen," he said.  "Today they have a very good coast guard capability.  And the price of [maritime] insurance in Aden itself has gone down three times just because of the presence of the coast guard that we trained."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)