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Exercise “United Accord Ghana 2018”

By Capt. Boris MARCONE

The exercise “United Accord Ghana 2018” (UA18), sponsored by USARAF (United States Army
Africa Command), took place at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre
(KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana, from July 15th to July 31st 2018.
The event included a Command Post Exercise (CPX), a Field Training Exercise (FTX) and a
Medical Readiness Exercise (MEDRETE).
In particular, the CPX was designed in order to improve the capacity to plan, deploy and sustain a
combined Joint Task Force within the
framework of the United Nations
Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization
Mission (MINUSMA) in Mali. Strong emphasis
was put on the necessity to work with a multi-
component and multi-agency approach,
encouraging the Training Audience to interact
with other agencies in order to find common
solutions to problems, provide mutual support
and, overall, provide integrated response to
threats and issues arising from the mission area.
Because of its very specific target, the exercise was not designed using standard fictious scenarios,
such as the Carana scenario which should be well-known to many CoESPU Alumni as it is
systematically employed for end-course simulations and training; but, rather, it was based on the
real Mali Sector West scenario, using real data on geography, ethnic groups, spoilers, etc. The target
audience was composed of 65 military officers, with ranks ranging from Lieutenant to Colonel and
coming from 20 different countries (mostly from West Africa, but also from Europe and America).
Police and civilian components were not exercised: the CPX in fact was designed to train the
military component only, at the level of a Sector Headquarters. Trainees were therefore organized
into a Sector Commander, his Chief of Staff (COS), the Military Police (MP) officer, the Joint
Operations Centre (JOC), and 8 different cells, that is, all cells from U1 (Personnel) to U9 (CIMIC)
with the only exception of U7 (Training), which was not exercised. All remaining components (that
is, the Mission HQ, which constitutes the Higher Command or HICOM; the Lower Command or
LOCON, comprising the Battalions on the ground; and the Police and Civilian Component) were
simulated by the Direction of Exercise (DIREX). The latter, together with the Scripters (i.e. the
officers in charge of writing events and injections for the exercise), the Observation Team (i.e.,
officers in charge of observing the Training Audience’s activities in order to detect possible errors
or unexpected response to the exercise), and the Guest Mentors for specific areas of competence
(including Policing), consisted of 57 officers.
The activity was structured as follows. For the first 4 days, trainees were given a doctrinal “crash
course” on United Nations missions, procedures, and so on. After that, the Training Audience was
tasked to write, using correct staff procedures and organization, the Operation Order (OPORD) for
its mission; the total time given for the OPORD development was 6 days. This task was somehow
unrealistic, nevertheless it was precious because it forced the Training Audience to familiarize with

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