By Alhassan Jalloh
The United States’ State Partnership Program (SPP) between the Michigan National Guard (MING) and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) – established in 2024 – 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 the areas of professional military education, vehicle operations and fleet management, disaster response planning,and interagency cooperation.
Each event supported the priorities identified for the SPP by Sierra Leone’s senior military leaders in 2024. After a formal signing ceremony in September, teams from Michigan visited Freetown in November 2024 to establish the professional military education and vehicle operations programs, 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 of the Michigan National Guard. “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 exercise 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 links 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 105 partnerships with 115 nations.
For media inquiries please contact U.S. Embassy Media Coordinator Alhassan Jalloh,[email protected]
