Multinational planning for Justified Accord 2025 strengthens partnerships in East Africa

Back to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya — Military planners gathered here September 9-13, 2024, for the mid-planning event of exercise Justified Accord 2025 (JA25), showcasing the importance of international collaboration in preparing for the largest military exercise in East Africa.

Hosted by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), JA25 will bring together multiple nations, partner forces and humanitarian organizations to enhance regional security and interoperability. A combination of field training and academic courses will challenge participants with disaster response and peacekeeping scenarios.

“Hosting this planning event is an honor and privilege. The KDF takes training very seriously as we look forward to a successful exercise,” said Brigadier William Kamoiro, KDF lead exercise planner. “Working together with our U.S., Tanzanian, Dutch and British counterparts this week highlights the importance of multinational partnership to achieve common goals.”

Kenya plays a pivotal role as the host nation for JA25, providing leadership and logistical support to ensure the exercise’s success. Event highlights include squad-level live-fire training, explosive ordnance disposal, air-to-ground integration with special operations forces elements, as well as a medical civic action program, which will provide real-word medical care to local Kenyans.

Multinational planners injected challenges into training scenarios, encouraging exercise participants to consider improvised explosive devices, the rule of law in conflict, encountering women and children on the battlefield, as well as tactical combat casualty care of military working dogs.

This year, the scope has increased, as Kenya will be joined by Djibouti and Tanzania, who will also host portions of the exercise.

“The bilateral cooperation between the Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces (TPDF) and the U.S. Army started after Tanzania gained independence in 1961,” said Tanzania Col. Elirehema P. Levoyo, a planning team member. “The long-standing cooperation between our two forces has improved performance and enhanced the bilateral relationship. JA25 will continue to build Tanzania’s capability and improve our capacity for multinational interoperability.”

This week’s event allowed Tanzanian military planners to coordinate closely with other international partners, ensuring that the exercise’s objectives reflect real-world challenges. Planners concentrated on synchronizing multinational force contributions to ensure smooth execution of the exercise next February.

“Through multinational cooperation, the U.S. Army has supported TPDF’s professionalization and development through training exercises like Justified Accord and sharing experiences,” added Levoyo.

JA25 seeks to improve the ability of participating nations to work seamlessly across various operational domains, including air, land and sea. To achieve this, Kenya, Tanzania and Djibouti will host reserve and active-duty components from the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Army.

The U.S. force package includes the Nebraska National Guard, who celebrates their first year of partnership with Tanzania. In addition, the Massachusetts National Guard continues their long-term military relationship with Kenya through the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program.

“The Massachusetts National Guard contingent is grateful for the opportunity to refine our plans for JA25,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mike McNamara, training division chief and lead exercise planner for the Massachusetts National Guard. “The upcoming exercise holds special meaning for us as we celebrate our ten year anniversary of working together with the KDF.”

As the planning event concluded, participants expressed optimism about the path forward and the positive outcomes expected from JA25. The exercise serves as a platform for building relationships, improving readiness and enhancing the ability of partner nations to address complex security challenges.

With the groundwork laid during the mid-planning event, participating nations are poised for success when JA25 officially kicks off in February 2025.

“The partnerships we forge here will last beyond Justified Accord and strengthen our collective efforts to promote peace and stability across Africa,” concluded Kamoiro.

About Justified Accord

Justified Accord is U.S. Africa Command's largest exercise in East Africa. Led by SETAF-AF, and hosted in Kenya, this year's exercise will incorporate personnel and units from 23 nations. This multinational exercise builds readiness for the U.S. joint force, prepares regional partners for UN and AU mandated missions, and increases multinational interoperability in support of humanitarian assistance, disaster response and crisis response.

Exercise content can be found on the official Justified Accord DVIDS feature page.

About SETAF-AF

SETAF-AF provides U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Army Europe and Africa a dedicated headquarters to synchronize Army activities in Africa and scalable crisis-response options in Africa and Europe.

Follow SETAF-AF on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn & DVIDS