Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa

Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is a joint task force of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). The U.S. War on terror begun after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. In October 2002, headquarters elements of the Marine Corps was sent to establish the Task Force in Djibouti. It was initially directly responsible to United States Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida.

The task force mission is to conduct operations within its Combined Joint Operations Area to enhance partner nation capacity, promote regional security and stability, dissuade conflict, and protect U.S. interests. It has become extensively involved in the Somali Civil War.

CJTF-HOA consists of about 2,000 servicemen and women from the United States Department of Defense. In 2012, the task force had an assigned area of interest that included Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Seychelles and Kenya. Outside this area, the task force had operations in Mauritius, Comoros, Liberia, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. In mid-2007, "although CJTF-HOA's C is supposed to signify a "combined" effort involving [other] states, only a dozen or so officers [were] actually drawn -- as liaisons -- from ten militaries (five local, five distant) other" than the United States.

From Fiscal Year 2020 the term "Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa" has been used in United States federal budget Overseas Contingency Operations supplemental funding documents to designate funds spent on Camp Lemonnier and CJTF-HOA. Budget documentation from earlier years (eg FY 2007) details funding requested for Camp Lemonnier within the overall emergency supplemental request, without a separate designation for Djibouti.