FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – The partnership between the Michigan National Guard and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) took another step forward April 11-18 with three separate engagements conducted at various RSLAF facilities in Sierra Leone’s capital region.
Cooperation focused on professional military education; vehicle operations and fleet management; and disaster response planning and interagency cooperation.
Each event supported the priorities identified for the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program by Sierra Leone’s senior military leaders in 2024, when the partnership began. After a formal signing ceremony in September, teams from Michigan visited Freetown in November to establish the professional military education and vehicle operations lines of effort, in addition to promoting military justice and the rule of law.
“We are moving forward to deepen ties with our partners in the RSLAF and to support lines of effort that make both our organizations stronger, more fluent, and more prepared to conduct our respective missions,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Scott House, the Michigan National Guard’s executive integrator for the Sierra Leone SPP. “Less than one year into this relationship, we’ve already conducted six events in Sierra Leone, setting a foundation for mutual understanding that we will keep building upon.”
Planning is underway for members of the RSLAF to observe exercise Northern Strike in Michigan this August. Northern Strike is one of the Department of Defense’s largest reserve component exercises, hosted annually at the National All-Domain Warfighting Center in northern Michigan. This year’s Northern Strike is expected to draw approximately 7,000 participants from nearly every service component and branch of the U.S. armed forces.
“We appreciate this partnership with the Michigan National Guard and look forward to developing the full benefit of our cooperation,” said RSLAF Brig. Gen. Sahr David Ngaujah, RSLAF chief of general staff. “There are more good things to come as our relationship grows.”
The SPP supports U.S. State Department and Department of Defense objectives by linking the National Guard of a U.S. state with the armed forces of a sovereign partner nation for mutually beneficial security cooperation. The SPP began in 1993 with 13 partners and has grown to include 106 partnerships with 115 nations.