E. TOPIC. Interagency Partnership Center in Mogadishu, Somalia (2565)
Observation.
Establishment of the Civil-Military Operations Center (CMOC) / Interagency
Partnership Center (IPC) was a key Civil Affairs activity in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Discussion.
The 403 rd Civil Affairs Battalion established the initial Interagency Partnership
Center in Mogadishu, Somalia in July 2016. The goal of the IPC was to establish
clarity for the Commanding General, Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa
(CJTF-HOA), of all civil military activities in Somalia.
One of CJTF-HOA’s main partnerships was with the State Department and the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided programs
such as Transition Initiatives for Stabilization (TIS+) and Office of Transition
Initiatives (OTI) that helped promote stability and community cohesion through
infrastructure development and social and cultural activities.
Another major partner was the Early Recovery Group and Stabilization Advisors,
who were members of the United Kingdom Mission Support Team (UKMST).
The UK stabilization officers had a direct role to support the Federal Government
of Somalia. Partnering with these UK officers allowed US Civil affairs officers to
build and expand civil military relationships.
Special Operations Command Forward (SOCFWD) Civil Affairs (Active Duty)
personnel provided access to areas/communities and facilitated project
development and “train the trainer” events. For example, the Mogadishu Medical
Seminar provided/shared best practices from US Army doctors/radiologists for 15
Somali doctors in a weeklong training event.
Likewise, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Civil-Military
Cooperation (CIMIC) training in Mogadishu allowed for weeklong discussion
groups and sharing Civil Affairs expertise with Troop Contributing Countries in
Somalia.
The IPC collaborated all these efforts with JTF-HOA’s Military Coordination Cell
(MCC), which had a plethora of responsibilities. Fortunately, the MCC Chief was
able to help facilitate balance and synchronization among the various agencies
and foreign militaries (UK, European Union Training Mission, UN, USAID, State
Department, and the CJTF-HOA chain of command).
One major factor that stood out the most was the ability of Civil Affairs and the
IPC to build key relationships. Civil Affairs personnel don’t have all the answers,
and a variety of projects/programs move at different speeds. Coordination was
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