The Global Peace Operations Initiative: Background and Issues for Congress

Abstract

The 111th Congress may consider extending the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI), the centerpiece of the Bush Administrations efforts to prepare foreign security forces to participate in international peacekeeping operations. Established in mid-2004, GPOI is a multilateral, five-year program with planned U.S. contributions of some $660 million from FY2005 through FY2009. GPOI's primary purpose is to train and equip 75,000 military troops, a majority of them African, for peacekeeping operations by 2010. GPOI also provides support for the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU), an Italian training center for gendarme (constabulary police) forces in Vicenza, Italy. In addition, GPOI is promoting the development of an international transportation and logistics support system for peacekeepers, and is encouraging an information exchange to improve international coordination of peace operations training and exercises in Africa. In June 2004, G8 leaders pledged to support the goals of the initiative. GPOI incorporates previous capabilities-building programs for Africa. From FY1997 to FY2005, the United States spent just over $121 million on GPOI's predecessor program that was funded through the State Department Peacekeeping (PKO) account: the Clinton Administration's African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) and its successor, the Bush Administrations's African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program. (The term ACOTA is now used to refer to GPOI's training program in Africa.) Some 16,000 troops from ten African nations were trained under the early ACRI/ACOTA programs. Some $33 million was provided from FY1998 to FY2005 to support classroom training of 31 foreign militaries through the Foreign Military Financing account's Enhanced International Peacekeeping Capabilities program (EIPC).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 19, 2009
Accession Number
ADA496488

Entities

People

  • Nina M. Serafino

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combatant Commanders
  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of State
  • European Union
  • Governments
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Law
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • South Asia
  • United States
  • United States European Command

Readers

  • International Relations and Conflict Resolution
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.