SECFRON 2 – Project to Support the Jordanian Security and Defence Forces in Mafraq Governorate

Over the last decade, Jordan has faced a number of security challenges, in particular at its borders. The main threat comes from the East and the development of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. This threat reached a peak in the Kingdom with the assassination of six Jordanian border guards in a car bomb attack carried out by the Islamic State (IS). Faced with this situation and during an official visit in France in December 2017, HM King Abdullah requested assistance from France and the European Union to cope with the pressure at its borders. It is following the discussions held on this occasion that the need was identified for Jordan to have a second-line logistical hub in Ruwaishid, located 70 km from the border between Jordan and Iraq. It is the only large city in the eastern part of the country, which makes it a critical supply and refuelling point for the security agencies and security forces, as well as for anyone crossing the border with Iraq.

Furthermore, Ruwaishid is a strategic city, not only for border security operations but also for humanitarian aid. Indeed, since the Gulf War in 1990, refugees often take this route to take refuge in Jordan during wars or serious political turmoil. This has been the case in 1990-1991 with mainly refugees from Kuwait, in 2003 with Iraqi refugees and, to a lesser extent, since 2012 with refugees from Syria.

Consequently, a first project was set up in 2019, just under two years after Jordan’s request for assistance and with financing from the European Union. With €6 million, the “Reinforcing Jordan's Capabilities at the Eastern Border” (SECFRON 1) project was implemented by Expertise France from June 2019 to June 2021.

It has provided the Jordanian authorities with capabilities to respond swiftly to any humanitarian crisis or security threat at the borders with Iraq and Syria and improved the sustainability of the civil-military operations conducted in the area.

The project comprised a “facilities and equipment” component in Ruwaishid (Mafraq Governorate) and a “training in civil-military operations (CMO) and logistics” component in order to support Jordan’s efforts in the event of new crises potentially generating an unexpected influx of refugees.

In June 2021, the new logistics hub in Ruwaishid was inaugurated and delivered to the Jordanian authorities. However, this hub required the addition of a number of components to make it fully operational. It is for this reason that France and the Netherlands, convinced of the need to continue to structure this hub for Jordan’s stability, decided to finance a second component of the SECFRON project.

The Project to Support Jordanian Security and Defence Forces in Mafraq Governorate (SECFRON 2) has been designed to ensure the sustainability of the administrative and logistics hub in Ruwaishid built under the first component of the project. It aims to:

1. Improve the integrated management of borders and strengthen the capability to react to security crises in the area of the three borders.
2. Upgrade the existing facilities, support the military presence in Mafraq Governorate and strengthen the capabilities of the JAF and other security forces in the logistics and administrative hub. 

This project is partly financed by Expertise France and is also implemented by the agency. The activities started on 15 June 2022.

While the second phase of the project came to an end in February 2024, a third phase is in preparation with EU funding, to complete the expression of the Jordanian armed forces' needs for the full operationalization of the Ruweishid logistics and administrative hub.

Expertise France has been asked to design and implement this third phase of the SECFRON project.