Ghana has been commended by the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) for being a strong partner in promoting sub-regional security and for her observatory role in special exercises like the African Lion 21.

The African Lion 21 is a joint exercise led by the Southern European Task Force Africa (SETAF-AF), sponsored by the U.S. Africa Command, and conducted in the Kingdom of Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal, to strengthen U.S. and partner nations capability, to promote regional stability and support interoperability.

Interacting with some journalists in a telephone briefing on Thursday, June 17, 2021, the Commander of the U.S. Army’s Southern European Task Force Africa and Deputy Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, Major General Andrew Rohling, mentioned that Ghana had been a great ally in AFRICOM events in the sub-region.

“Ghana is in fact a great ally and a great participant in AFRICOM activities, and in fact I can speak from the Army perspective that we have recently introduced a small Army contingent, a security force assistance element, to work with our – Ghana and the Ghana army to develop ways to cooperate into the future, and I think that we have a great future ahead of us with Ghana.”

He continued that Ghana was “a strong regional partner, and in fact, they are participating in African Lion 21 as an observer, and we look forward to their participation in African Lion 22.”

According to Major General Andrew Rohling, this year's African Lion, which is the 17th iteration, is the largest and most complex that AFRICOM had had to date.

Eight thousand (8,000) personnel from eight (8) different countries have participated directly in the exercise, and another fifteen (15) observed the training with the potential to join for African Lion 22.

Over the past two weeks, many training events have been conducted across Morocco and Tunisia on the land, in the sea, and in the air, all targeted at building readiness and interoperability for the joint and multinational teams.

The U.S. Africa Command, with partners, aims to counter transnational threats and malign actors, strengthen security forces and respond to the crisis to advance U.S national interests and promote regional security, stability and prosperity.