The southern African country of Malawi "is using a host of military programs offered by the United States to strengthen its young democracy and to improve the professional skills of its army," says Vicki Adair, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe. "Programs range from traditional military training to strengthening peacekeeping and improving media relations." Peacetime military engagement activities undertaken by the United States and Malawi demonstrate the bilateral benefits that can be derived from these initiatives, she says.

Malawi doesn't often make international headlines. This small southern African country, surrounded by Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania, has not had a civil war in its 35 years of independence. And unlike the military in some other African nations, Malawi's army has never tried to usurp power from a civilian government. In fact, during the country's first multiparty elections in 1994, the military remained in the barracks and supported the country's transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Today the army continues to play a role in that transition, and Malawi is using a host of military programs offered by the United States to strengthen its young democracy and to improve the professional skills of its army. Programs range from traditional military training to strengthening peacekeeping and improving media relations.

Malawi is one of seven African countries -- and the only one in southern Africa -- currently participating in the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) training. The program is designed to enhance the existing capacity for African troops to deploy as peacekeepers or to respond to humanitarian crises under the auspices of a multinational coalition or regional, sub-regional, or international organization. Members of the U.S. Third Special Forces Group (Airborne) of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, have joined with contractors, including computer experts, to conduct a series of battalion-level exercises for soldiers in each participating country. Using field training and computer-assisted exercises, the goal is to provide a standard peacekeeping curriculum based on U.N. guidelines, but which is also tailored to the needs of each particular country. Malawi participated in initial ACRI training in 1997; its third follow-on training exercise is now scheduled for January 2000.

Malawi's experiences with peacekeeping predate its participation in ACRI. Malawi has sent observers and troops to Rwanda and guarded a vital trade route, the Nacala Corridor, during neighboring Mozambique's protracted civil war in the 1980s and early 1990s. Both of these experiences heightened the army's awareness of the importance of training in peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and conflict resolution. The commander of Malawi's army, Lieutenant General J.G. Chimbayo, believes ACRI training has helped to fine-tune his troops' skills. "Although we've had peacekeeping training in our curriculum for years," he said, "we have benefited from ACRI's practical exercises such as handling civil disturbances, humanitarian relief, and using negotiation. Our own army has been unable to conduct such exercises due to financial constraints."

Malawian soldiers have received praise during a variety of regional peacekeeping exercises. During Exercise Blue Crane in South Africa in the spring of 1999, Lieutenant General Chimbayo observed his ACRI-trained troops in action and later said, "I was gratified to see my soldiers contributing equally, perhaps even more than equally, among servicemen from various defense forces." The training is also being put to good use outside Africa. Malawi currently has an ACRI-trained observer in Kosovo.

ACRI may be the most high-profile military-to-military training program imported to Malawi from the United States, but it is not the only one. Since 1994 the Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) program has provided small-scale unit training exchanges between U.S. Special Forces units and the Malawi Army. JCETs in Malawi have included light infantry and weapons training, a jumpmaster refresher course for paratroopers, and training in mountaineering, patrolling checkpoints, land navigation, and mine-field clearing, as well as peacetime applications of military skills. One of the early JCET programs offered training particularly well-suited for African participants: teaching National Park rangers better ways to detect and deter poachers of protected big game.

Most of the army's senior officers have participated in International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs providing training both in Malawi and in the United States. Lieutenant General Chimbayo, for example, is an alumnus of the Command and General Staff Officers Course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This year's IMET programs, according to U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Marcia Bernicat, will emphasize planning and resource management skills and will further strengthen civil-military relations and the rule of law.

IMET funding will support an Integrated Health Resources Management Regional Seminar which will help Malawi develop ways to make the best use of limited health resources in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The spread of this disease is one of the most significant challenges facing Malawi today, with estimates of an approximately 16 percent infection rate among the adult population. The IMET program will allow the Malawi Army to play an important role in confronting the challenge.

One of the most recent programs in the wide range of U.S. military-sponsored training in Malawi addresses the need to strengthen civil-military relations and the rule of law. It is conducted by the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) as part of the Expanded International Military Education and Training Program (E-IMET). The program is designed to provide tailored education programs for foreign countries in military law, criminal justice systems, the rule of law, and the relationship of law to disciplined military operations.

Input from the host country on course content is an integral part of the DIILS program. Malawian military and government officials visited the United States to help plan the first seminar. Seminar courses in March and September 1999 in Malawi focused on civilian-military relations, military justice, military and the media, and human rights, using group problem-solving and discussions to encourage civilian-military dialogue. The September course also included a session on women in the military, an innovation Malawi contributed to the DIILS curriculum as it prepared to induct its first women into the army. While the majority of participants in the first seminar were military, the participants in the second included more civilians, such as the Speaker of Parliament, high court judges, and other members of the government, the human rights community, and the media. In addition to the seminars in country, DIILS has provided overseas training for the Malawi Army's only legal officer and plans a study tour to the United States for selected members of the newly appointed Parliamentary Defense Committee. The group will visit the U.S. Congress to learn more about the relationship between the military and the elected government in the United States.

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Sandra Jamison, the DIILS course coordinator for the programs with Malawi, appreciates the local response to the courses. The participants, she says, "have been extremely enthusiastic, focused, and engaged during the DIILS seminars. We often cite Malawi as an excellent example of military and civilian cooperation."

That cooperation is particularly important with the media, which can often influence the public's perception of the military. Compared to many other African countries, Malawi's military enjoys a relatively good working relationship with the press. Colonel Roderick Chimowa, the Ministry of Defense's Public Relations Officer, admits that relations were not always so cordial. "In the past, they (journalists) tended to write whatever they thought about the army, because there was no channel open to them for information. But today that channel is open, and we are able to talk to the media freely and share ideas. When they are not sure of their facts, we encourage them to come to us, which they now do in many cases."

Some members of the media are a little less enthusiastic, though. "The military is opening up to us," says Martines Namingha, editor of The Chronicle, one of Malawi's newspapers, "but not as much as we would like, nor as much as we expected." He adds that more dialogue between the military and the media is needed, a sentiment shared by others in the media. A newspaper editorial during the most recent DIILS seminar, written by a participant, applauded the continuing effort by the press and the army to improve their communications with each other. This is an area where training will continue to focus. The next DIILS session in Malawi is scheduled for March 2000.

Peacetime military engagement activities undertaken by the United States and Malawi reflect the bilateral benefits that can be derived from these initiatives. The United States enhances its overall relations with friendly nations, and countries such as Malawi, with limited defense budgets but significant experience, are able to receive both needed military training and assistance with a number of country-specific problems.