AFRICOM plus US involvement in Africa 2018 onwards

[davidbfpo]

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

[AdamG]

Remember the air support delay (despite French alacrity) in the Niger SF ambush?

U.S. Africa Command is hoping to finish two new air bases in 2019, one in Niger and one in Somalia, to stage operations against militants in the region. Niger Air Base 201, a future hub for armed drones and other aircraft, was supposed to be completed this year. The region’s difficult weather and harsh conditions are pushing completion back to the middle of 2019, officials told Air Force Times.

Air Base 201 will eventually house the U.S. armed drone mission in Niger that currently operates out of Niger’s capital, Niamey.

In the Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia, a former Soviet-built air base called Camp Baledogle is being refurbished and converted to better handle the evolving multinational mission in the country.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/y...ng-completion/

[davidbfpo]

A short commentary by Paul Rogers and the sub-title gives the context:

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:

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.

[davidbfpo]

IIRC the author is opinionated and critical of AFRICOM, but that caveat aside his article does pose questions. Notably:

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.