22 February 2025

CAS, in collaboration with CIBER (Dominic DiCamillo and Emily Salopeck), hosted the first of several CAS-CIBER Africa seminars to train U.S. Army Civil Affairs soldiers from the 412th Army Reserve Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne) based in Columbus. The venue was the Rotunda. and classes lasted from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. CAS recruited several subject matter experts to lecture the soldiers. They were Ambassador Ali S. Faqi, PhD, Ra'pahael Davis, an Ohio State PhD candidate (Political Science) and Fulbright Scholar, regional expert Chris Ogunmodede, Rebecca Nielsen PhD, and Nicholas Nyachega, PhD and a Mershon Postgraduate Fellow.

The training sessions focused on the Horn of Africa and Southern African regions, upcoming African elections, conflicts and peace initiatives, and general cultural competency. About 70 soldiers from the battalion participated in the seminar. The units' brigade Command Sergeant Major, CSM Jones, was also in attendance from South Carolina.

The event was a success; indeed, CAS was informed by CSM Jones that he would like this initiative to continue and welcomes the collaboration between CAS-CIBER and his brigade.