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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Jan 16 2011 - 07:21:52 EST
Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Travels to Djibouti,
Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 16, 2011
_____
Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew J.
Shapiro will travel to Djibouti, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo January 14-23. He will meet with senior civilian and military
officials in Djibouti, January 15-17; Kenya, January 18-19; and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, January 20-22, to build on security
cooperation initiatives aimed at meeting shared security challenges.
The Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM) is the Department of State's
primary link to the Department of Defense, and oversees more than $5 billion
in annual security assistance programs, offering 42 partner nations in
sub-Saharan Africa training opportunities and, in some cases, equipment
essential to building modern, professional armed forces across the
continent. The PM Bureau also leads the U.S. Government's diplomatic
response to piracy in eastern Africa through the 60-nation Contact Group on
Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.
Among other activities, the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs has helped
train and equip nearly 140,000 personnel from 37 nations around the world -
including 25 partners in sub-Saharan Africa - to meet the growing global
demand for peacekeepers through its Global Peace Operations Initiative
(GPOI), implemented in the region through the Africa Contingency Operations
Training and Assistance (ACOTA) Program.
In addition, the Bureau's Conventional Weapons Destruction Program has
promoted regional security and post conflict recovery by safely disposing of
more than 200,000 small arms, 2,500 tons of munitions, and returned more
than 25,000,000 square meters of land in 27 African nations to productive
use through efforts to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance though the
U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program.
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