Africom hosts annual Africa Military Law Forum
US Africa Command Office of Legal Counsel hosted the Africa Military Law Forum (AMLF) at the NATO School Oberammergau (NSO), Germany, between 27 February and 1 March.
The Command said that AMLF is an annual event which gathers African military legal professionals together to discuss best practices when advising militaries.
At this fourth iteration of the AMLF, 27 African officers from 21 African nations met with their U.S. and Allied counterparts to discuss pressing issues which could improve military operational adherence to the law. The representatives from the Office of Legal Counsel of the African Union attended as well as representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is working with the African Union in Ethiopia.
Col. (ret.) Mark Maxwell, US Africom Deputy Legal Counsel, described this AMLF and its participants as follows: “We have a full range of people here at the AMLF. We have lieutenants, who are very young in their career. We have brigadier generals. I think we have the whole gamut of what issues they face and most importantly, that not any one nation has all the answers. It is a collaboration that we hope will bring out best practices and also an opportunity for us to be able to create relationships.”
AMLF development
AMLF leadership was designed by AMLF participants. It is comprised of three co-chairpersons who are elected by forum participants to represent one English and one French speaking African country, and to always include female representation in