Burkina Faso interim president took training in Tampa
By Howard Altman <mailto:[email protected]> Before he became interim president of the West African nation of Burkina Faso over the weekend after violent demonstrations there, Lt. Col. Isaac Zida spent nearly two weeks in Tampa, learning how to battle terrorism at a course run by the U.S. Special Operations Commands Joint Special Operations University. That training took place from Jan. 23, 2012 until Feb. 2, 2012, said Socom spokesman Ken McGraw. He later took part in another course that the university ran jointly with the National Intelligence University in Africa, said McGraw. Zida was a student at two courses that were either sponsored or co-sponsored by Joint Special Operations University, said McGraw. Prior to attending either, (Zida) was recommended by the U.S. Embassy in Burkina Fasos Security Cooperation Office and was reviewed as part of the Leahy vetting process. That process is designed to prevent those who have taken part in human rights violations from receiving U.S. military training. News of Zidas attendance at JSOU was first reported by The Washington Post. McGraw said that once Zida was approved to take part in the training, he was able to attend his first Special Operations Combating Terrorism course at our Pinewood facility next to MacDill Air Force Base. The primary focus of the course was on developing international partnership networks that will strengthen and enhance U.S. efforts in combating terrorism, said McGraw. Emphasis was placed on building individual, country, and regional combating terrorism capabilities through education. Zida was later selected to participate in a Continuing Engagement Symposium in Botswana from June 4 to 8, 2012, said McGraw. The symposium was a partnership event conducted jointly by the National Intelligence University and the Joint Special Operations University, said McGraw. Zida became interim leader of Burkina Faso, a landlocked former French colony in West Africa over the weekend. Blaise Compaore was forced to resign the presidency last week in the wake of violent demonstrations over an attempt to extend his nearly three-decade rule, according to the Post. Our understanding is that the executive powers will be led by a transitional body but within a constitutional framework that we will watch over carefully, Zida told a gathering of diplomats and journalists in the capital Ouagadougou, according to Reuters. He did not give a timeframe for the changeover. We are not here to usurp power and to sit in place and run the country but to help the country come out of this situation, he said, according to Reuters. The universitys course list includes Counter Threat Finance Educational Seminar, Irregular Warfare Course, Joint Civil-Military Operations Campaign Planning Workshop, Joint Contemporary Insurgent Warfare Course, Joint Special Operations Forces Senior Intelligence Leaders Orientation Seminar and Joint Special Operations Irregular Warfare Advanced Course. Not all the participants are U.S. military. Some are from the State Department, CIA, the United States Agency for International Development and foreign military like Zida. The university has a $10 million annual operating budget. Its goal is to educate special operations forces executive, senior, and intermediate leaders and selected national and international security decision makers both military and civilian through teaching, outreach, and research in the science and art of joint special operations, according to its mission statement. [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> (813) 259-7629 @haltman Thé Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy" Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi "Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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