"Justified Accord 2023" is the US Africa Military Command's (AFRICOM) largest military manoeuvre in East Africa

A thunderous explosion and the roar of soldiers in combat shatter the calm of the Kenyan savannah, but this is no Hollywood movie: it is the largest US military drill in East Africa.

On a hillside in the arid county of Isiolo, in the geographical centre of Kenya, stands a barbed-wire-fenced camp that seems to compete with the thorns of the surrounding acacia trees.

The perimeter houses two long rows of military green tents lined up with millimetric precision and separated by an avenue of reddish earth, in an area of scrubby savannah where animals such as lions and hyenas have been spotted.

A small Maasai craft shop - the kind tourists come across on safari - is happily set up at the entrance, but a sign warns of restricted access.

It is the base camp for "Justified Accord 2023" (JA23), the most important military manoeuvres of the US Africa Military Command (AFRICOM) in East Africa, an area where "more than two thousand US soldiers" are deployed, US Captain Joe Legros told EFE.

The exercise, which runs from 13 to 23 February, involves more than twenty countries from four continents and promotes cooperation with African nations in the region in peace and anti-terrorist missions, crisis response and humanitarian assistance.

Isiolo, the epicentre of the exercise (which includes activities in Uganda, Djibouti and Somalia), hosts some 600 of the nearly 1,000 military personnel participating in JA23, including 300 Americans, as well as Kenyans, Rwandans, Djiboutians and Ugandans.

"The overall purpose is to train together and develop interoperability between our forces. If we ever have to work together, it's not the first time we've interacted," Lieutenant Colonel Eladio Medrano, the Dominican-born US officer in charge of operations in Isiolo, tells EFE.

A view shared by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Mukasa Kyolaba, head of the Ugandan contingent. "Different forces, different doctrines, but working together. That is very important," Mukasa told EFE.

The exercises include battlefield first aid, platoon exercises, homemade explosives detection, vehicle searches, patrols and counter-terrorism tactics.
"The Kenya Defence Force has been actively involved in counter-terrorism operations along the border with Somalia. Their forces have a lot of experience. They have been of great help to us. It is a very present danger that we are facing," Medrano stresses, referring to the fight against the Somali jihadist group Al-Shabab.

Musaka believes that this "multinational exercise" helps to address dangers such as "suicide bombers" in Somalia, where Uganda is fighting Al-Shabab as part of the African Union mission, and provides a "block" to the wall of "regional stability".

Near the camp, a fictitious town stands on a rough terrain with painted containers simulating buildings.

Kenyan and Djiboutian soldiers armed with US-made M4 carbine-version automatic assault rifles fire blanks and scour, corridor by corridor, the supposed real estate in pursuit of an imaginary enemy.

"I like the energy I've seen. You take this training seriously," comments an American instructor, to which the sweaty African troop responds in chorus with a resounding "Yes, sir!".

"A split second is the difference between life and death," a US officer warns them, while another advises them to "shoot with a purpose" because it is not about "making noise" but about "being lethal".

A few kilometres away on a knoll, a pile of green sacks becomes a bunker that a small US infantry unit wants to storm amid deafening bursts of shrapnel.

"They're going to throw a grenade," Steve Domingos, an ex-military officer in charge of security for the manoeuvre, alerts EFE.

Seconds later, a "boom!" echoes through the dust. "It was a live grenade," Domingos says.

Some of the Kenyan soldiers are embedded with their American colleagues in these platoons. "It's fantastic. I'm learning a lot," one of them, Lieutenant Steven Wainaina, told EFE.

In its seven-year history, Justified Accord is introducing cyber defence courses for the first time in this year's edition of the event for the US Army, which created a cyber soldier command in 2010.

"We want all our allies to be prepared to respond to cyber attacks," Captain Legros told EFE.

The drill is taking place as the South African, Chinese and Russian navies conduct joint manoeuvres in South African waters, coinciding with the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which falls on 24 February.

"We usually do this exercise in February. It is pure coincidence" that it is taking place shortly before the anniversary of the war, Legros told EFE, adding that JA23 is not intended as a "show of force".