AFRICOM plus US involvement in Africa 2018 onwards
This is a new thread to gather the various components of the USA's involvement in Africa, largely in the continent south of the Sahara.
The previous thread Africom Stands Up (Merged thread) covers 2006-2017, with 392 posts and 156k views. There are a few other threads scattered around, in particular the thread on Niger, which includes the ambush of a US SOF team with Nigerien soldiers.
There is a separate, closed thread:AFRICOM and the perception mess which upon review defies merging; it had 161 posts and 52k views.
Caveat: source is the New Yorker
The Enduring American Military Mission in Africa
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily...sion-in-africa
Some questions to AFRICOM's Brigadier General Donald C. Bolduc.
Evolving Terror The Development of Jihadist Operations
This report needed a home even if this thread does not readily seem the best place. Well it does refer to the thread faced by AFRICOM and others.
'Evolving Terror The Development of Jihadist Operations Targeting Western Interests in Africa' by FDD's SME. It is 41 pgs and not read today.
Link:http://www.defenddemocracy.org/conte...vingTerror.pdf
Evolving Terror: a shorter version
Hat tip to WoTR for a summary article by one of the report's authors and here is why it is important:
Quote:
..between January 2007 and December 2011 — as the impact of the Arab Spring revolutions was just beginning to be felt — jihadists carried out 132 successful, thwarted, or failed attacks against Western interests in Africa. This figure nearly tripled to 358 attacks between January 2012 and October 2017.
Link:https://warontherocks.com/2018/02/sp...st-innovation/
The ‘Myths and Lies’ Behind the U.S. Military’s Growing Presence in Africa
Moderator adds
Four posts on recent events in Somalia, in July 2018, which include references to US activity, have been moved to the main thread on Somalia (ends).
A critical overview by a veteran Reuters journalist, which seeks to answer:
Quote:
an important question: At a time when U.S. military engagement in Africa is growing rapidly, who exactly is doing the mythmaking and the lying?
The U.S. military obscures the nature of its actions in Africa through ambiguous language and outright secrecy. It limits the amount of information available about the objectives of its operations, how those operations are carried out, the facilities it uses, and how it partners with governments in the region. At times, this has involved subverting democratic processes in partner countries, an approach that runs counter to years of diplomatic engagement ostensibly designed to strengthen governance institutions.
(Ends with)....this military-first focus comes at the expense of a more robust relationship with many African countries, one rooted in the democratic values Washington once claimed to prioritize across the continent. This means that while U.S. soldiers are becoming more vulnerable to attacks like the Niger ambush, their presence risks weakening the institutions of the states they’ve been sent to support.
Link:https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/24908/the-myths-and-lies-behind-the-u-s-military-s-growing-presence-in-africa
Africom: new strategy coming and 10% less troops
A long article that tries to cover many issues and two passages:
Quote:
National Security Advisor John Bolton is scheduled to unveil the Trump administration’s new strategy for the continent in a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation on Thursday. It is expected to focus on countering near-peer adversaries rather than counterterrorism. The White House is not expected to ask for more funding for diplomacy, intelligence gathering or foreign aid, according to
NBC News.
The announcement comes just weeks after the Pentagon said it would be
cutting 10 percent of its troop presence in Africa over the next several years, including half of the counterterrorism forces operating in West Africa. The Defense Department said in a statement that the goal was to “realign our counter-terrorism resources and forces operating in Africa over the next several years in order to maintain a competitive posture worldwide.”
Link:https://www.defenseone.com/politics/2018/12/small-wars-great-power-trumps-africa-reset-could-change-us-militarys-role/153485/?
The Niger ambush rolls on
Cross-posting a SWJ article as it is very relevant here and is by the former AFRICOM CO.
Link:http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art...accountability
‘Defeated’ ISIS has set up a new “jihadist proto-state” in West Africa
A short commentary by Paul Rogers and the sub-title gives the context:
Quote:
Where people have few life chances and little help from the government, the militants’ promise of order and basic services is winning recruits.
Adding this comment on Burkina Faso by a journalist:
Quote:
The country’s poorest regions in the north and east have been neglected, with the government providing minimal health services, education, jobs and infrastructure. Locals have in response taken up arms and forged links with militant groups who promised, and delivered, more services than the state.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/def...-west-africa/?
Added here as it provides the context for AFRICOM, even if it is reducing in size due to President Trump's decisions.
AFRICOM helps to make matters worse?
IIRC the author is opinionated and critical of AFRICOM, but that caveat aside his article does pose questions. Notably:
Quote:
since AFRICOM began, key indicators of security and stability in Africa have plummeted according to the Defense Department’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a Pentagon research institution. “Overall, militant Islamist group activity in Africa has doubled since 2012,” according to a
recent analysis by the Africa Center.
Link:https://theintercept.com/2019/07/29/...rica-violence/
If AFRICOM's role is to help nation-states combat jihadist insurgencies then neither "roll-back" or containment appears to be working. The author contends, in part supported by the DoD analysis, it is making things worse.
