United States Department of Defense News Release On the web: Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131 Public contact: http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711

The United States European Command launched the first-ever brigade training under the African Crisis Response Initiative program on Monday, Sept. 11, 2000, in Senegal.

A U.S. joint mobile training team of approximately 35 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines from Europe, assisted by approximately 40 contract instructors and support personnel, is overseeing the brigade-level instruction for approximately 400 Senegalese soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers. Training includes peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance doctrine, individual soldier skills, training in combat support and combat service support functions, staff officer skills, and the military decision making process for leaders and staff. Scheduled for eight weeks, the training will culminate in a brigade situational training exercise in early November.

ACRI is a U.S. presidential initiative under the State Department's sponsorship that works with selected African nations to create an effective, rapidly deployable, and interoperable peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance capability.

To date, EUCOM has provided training to approximately 800 soldiers in each of the following countries: Senegal, Uganda, Mali, Malawi, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, and Benin. The U.S. goal is to train about 12,000 peacekeepers in 10 to 12 battalion sized units and two to three brigade level headquarters.

For more information, visit the U.S. European Command web site at http://www.eucom.mil/directorates/ecpa/programs/acri/main.htm or the State Department web site at http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/af/acri/homepage.htm .

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