During these maneuvers, which took place in the presence of Major General Mohammed Berrid, Inspector General of the FAR and Commander of the Southern Zone, and Army General Michael Langley, Commander of the American Command for Africa “AFRICOM”, the military units of the two countries carried out maneuvers with F16 planes and B1B bombers.
Ground operations were also carried out by artillery fire against minefields using Abrams tanks.
In a statement to the press, Army General Michael Langley expressed his gratitude to Morocco “host country and long-time partner” and to the Southern European Task Force of the American armed forces in Africa “for having organized this event and this demonstration of professionalism”.
“Participation in Exercise African Lion is therefore important for Africa. It is a high-level exercise that sets the stage for our approach to building stability and partnerships across the African continent,” he said, adding that it is about “ensuring that our African partners can institutionalize their forces and increase interoperability.”
“This will help us address some of the security and stability challenges they face,” General Langley continued, recalling that the exercise was first launched in 2004.
He noted that “when AFRICOM became a combatant command, it took on a new dimension in 2008,” adding that “all of our national security strategies call for AFRICOM to take a partnership-based approach.”
He noted that Morocco and the United States have developed a partnership capacity throughout history. “Since our independence, Morocco has been a partner of choice for the United States,” he said, adding that to combat violent extremist organizations in the region, “we must professionalize our forces” and “strengthen institutional capacities.”
“We need to be able to institutionalize these forces so that they can address the specter of conflict and combat violent extremist organizations,” he said.
For his part, Youssef Guertoumi, Commander of the military sector of Drâa, affirmed that in accordance with the High Instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Supreme Commander and Chief of General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR), “we witnessed today the culmination of the field training exercise which concludes the 19th edition of the African Lion 2023 exercise”.
He expressed on this occasion his warm thanks to the partners of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), the Southern European Task Force of the American armed forces in Africa (SETAF-AF) as well as the Utah National Guard, “for their constant support and assistance, which led to the success of this exercise and which highlights once again the fundamental values that we share to promote peace and security in the world, and in particular in our African continent”.
Thus, he explained, the various programmed activities were put in place to achieve in particular the strengthening of the level of interoperability between the forces, the standardization of tactics, techniques and procedures, as well as the consolidation of multi-domain capabilities.
The Governor of the American state of Utah, Spencer Cox, pointed out that more than 600 Utah military personnel have come to Morocco over the past three weeks to participate in this exercise.
“This partnership has been going on for 20 years. We started just before Exercise African Lion,” he recalled, adding that “Utah and Morocco started this training exercise together that has now become an incredible multinational operation.”
“We appreciate AFRICOM and the leadership they’ve shown in helping to make this happen,” he continued.
“To our Moroccan friends, we want you to know how important you are to the state of Utah and the United States,” he said, adding that “our partnership is growing and goes well beyond this military exercise, even if it is essential.”
“We had the opportunity to visit the humanitarian assistance center and we were blown away. Again, over 80 members of the Utah National Guard were there to provide life-saving care to the Moroccans,” the American official added, specifying that “the fact that Moroccans come to Utah, that they spend time here, is a value to us. The exchange of visits between Moroccan and Utah youth helps us all improve.”
“We truly believe that global security is about relationships. Peace and peacemaking is about relationships,” Cox said, adding that “the relationships we build here make the world a better and safer place. We are proud of Utah’s role in African life and look forward to continuing to play that role in the years to come.”
“African Lion” is a combined joint exercise, organized each year by the FAR and the American Armed Forces.
This exercise, which began on June 5, in several regions of the Kingdom, namely Agadir, Tan-Tan, Mehbes, Tiznit, Kenitra, Benguerir and Tifnit, with the participation of 6,000 soldiers representing 14 countries, is intended to be an annual event that contributes to consolidating Moroccan-American military cooperation and strengthening the exchange between the armed forces of different countries with a view to promoting security and stability in the region.
2024-08-29 06:07:31