Ajit Karn
The armies of twenty-five African nations will participate in the India-Africa Chiefs Conclave in Pune on March 28, according to a senior Indian Army official.
Participants, including senior officials from the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of External Affairs and the Services, as well as ex-Servicemen, will also attend the conclave during the two segments from the Indian side.
“The first session will examine the foundational tenets of the India-Africa Defense Partnership. The second session will focus on the outreach of the Indian defence industry to Africa. The panel discussion will feature eminent African speakers, an Army official said.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is also slated to attend and deliver a speech at the conclave.
Army chiefs from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, Seychelles, Gambia, Tanzania, and Kenya have confirmed their attendance.
Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Eswatini (Swaziland), Morocco, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Lesotho, and Senegal will all send army chief representatives to the conclave.
In conjunction with the India-Africa chiefs’ conclave, the second iteration of the Africa-India Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX) will be conducted beginning on 21 March.
A senior Indian Army official stated, “The purpose of the exercise is to continue building on the initiatives taken to strengthen India-Africa relations, with a focus on enhancing peace and security and providing opportunities for the exchange of ideas and perspectives.”
The official also emphasised that this exercise will help to learn from the African experience in cooperative security and crisis management, while also promoting a collaborative approach to enhancing the capacity of African armies.
The AFINDEX exercise will begin in Pune on March 21 and conclude on March 30. The exercise will consist of four distinct phases.
Initial training will be administered to the educators themselves, followed by a Humanitarian Mine Action and Peace Keeping Operations Phase.
A validation exercise will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. On March 29, the validation exercise will be conducted with the ministers of the African armies present.
Senior Army officials emphasised that the exercise will make extensive use of domestically manufactured defence equipment. During the exercise, India-made equipment of the newest iteration will be displayed in an effort to demonstrate its effectiveness to the troops of the participating nations.
Nine contingents, each containing 78 personnel, will partake in AFINDEX. These contingents will reach from the countries of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Niger, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Eswatini/Swaziland, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Zimbabwe, and Morocco will each contribute 21 observers to AFINDEX.
The Indian defence manufacturing industry will also host a defence equipment exhibit on March 29 in an effort to showcase the country’s defence manufacturing capabilities.
In March of 2019, the first Africa-India Field Training Exercise was conducted in Pune. Participating were twenty African nations.
The first India-Africa Defence Ministers Conclave was conducted in Lucknow in conjunction with DEFEXPO 2020.
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Adopted at the conclave, the Lucknow Declaration outlined the future course of defence cooperation between India and African nations.
