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Operation Focus Relief I/II/III

Operation Focus Relief provided for the deployment of US military personnel, in coordination with the United States Department of State, to western Africa to train units of 3 countries. The operation's primary goal was to equip and train as many as 7 battalions of soldiers from Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal to conduct peace-enforcement operations in Sierra Leone, where rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) were battling United Nations peacekeepers and the government of Sierra Leone over control of that country's diamond mines. The battalions were to be trained to conduct tactical operations up to the infantry company level in preparation for future peace enforcement missions. The training lasted approximately 10 weeks. Operation Focus Relief demonstrated the commitment of the US Government in assisting the restoration of stability to the West Africa sub-region.

In addition, Operation Focus Relief was to help rebuild relations with the Nigerian military and to help improve its effectiveness. In May 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected and the country returned to civilian leadership after 16 years of military dictatorship. As part of Operation Focus Relief, the US extended a $66 million military-aid-and-training package to Nigeria, of which $20 million was to be used for a military training program.

The mission was first announced by former President Clinton in an address to the Nigerian National Assembly in 2000. Special tools and tactics, and requisite preparation, were also provided to Ghana and Senegal. Uniforms, medical equipment, communication systems, rifles, mortars,machine guns, ammunition, and light-wheeled non-combat vehicles were among the materiel supplied to the 3 nations. The 3rd Special Force Group had already trained soldiers in Senegal, Uganda and Malawi to conduct effective peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations as part of the Africa Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI).

The majority of the approximately 200 participating US service members deployed for Operation Focus Relief were from the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) and US Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The remaining participants were members of US Army, Europe. The US Army 3rd Special Forces was brought into the area by the 86th Contingency Response Group's Air Mobility Squadron from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The 86th Airlift Wing's Contingency Response Group served as the Air Force's first in humanitarian assistance to those in need anywhere, anytime. The 86th Contingency Response Group provided mobile aerial-port capabilities, airfield command and control, aircraft-maintenance capabilities and airfield security and force protection capabilities.

On 23 August 2000, the first of the 3rd Special Forces Group's soldiers in Nigeria, Detachment A-353, established a medical mobile training team. On 9 October 2000, 250 members 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group began the first 10-week training rotation, in Nigeria. The program of instruction had been vetted by both the UN and the Department of State. During the training rotation, each Nigerian soldier received uniforms, load-bearing equipment, a Kevlar helmet, a poncho, canteens, an entrenching tool and a new rifle. More than 1,200 Nigerian soliders were trained during the 10-week rotation.

Training was halted for about 10 days in October 2000, when roughly 80 unknown Nigerian soldiers arrived unexpectedly to take part in the mission. The operation was suspended while US State Department officials checked if any of the new soldiers had been accused of past human rights abuses. The United States would only train soldiers who had passed the human rights abuses background check. The Nigerians, who had been criticized in the past for tolerating human rights abuses, were receiving instruction on how to handle civilians and prisoners.

Ceremonies were held in mid-December 2000 to celebrate the end of Operation Focus Relief I.

On 29 May 2001, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group began the second training rotation, Operation Focus Relief II, in Ghana and Senegal. 1st Battalion established Forward Operational Base (FOB) 31 in Accra, Ghana, controlling Advanced Operational Base (AOB) 310 in Ghana and AOB 330 in Senegal. Training was conducted for a single battalion each in Accra, Ghana and Theis, Senegal. The training followed the same 10-week program of instruction that had been conducted under Operation Focus Relief I in Nigeria. Operation Focus Relief II closed on 3 August 2001.

From 17 September to 15 December 2001, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group conducted the final, and the largest, rotation, Operation Focus Relief III. 3rd Battalion trained 3 Nigerian battalions, more than 2,200 soldiers, at 4 separate locations in Nigeria. FOB 33 provided command and control, as well as training, from Abuja, Nigeria. Training was also conducted in Ilorin, Serti, and Bernin Kebbi, by AOBs 370, 380, and 390 respectively. Each Operation Focus Relief rotation also ended with a field-training exercise that maximized the participation of the host-nation military forces.

As of 1 January 2003, the United States had spent over $515 million on the peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone and on Operation Focus Relief, which was devised to support that mission. Hundreds of millions more had been appropriated and requested for this purpose in 2003 and 2004.