WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States announced
an initial plan for adjusting its military presence in Africa amid concerns
the country will reduce forces fighting radical jihadists on the continent.
The first change will see part of one infantry unit, around 800 troops,
replaced with a similar number of military trainers and advisors to support
local forces in “spotlight African countries,” Defense Department officials
said.
“The message I’m relaying to my (African) partners is we are not walking
away,” US Army Africa commander Major General Roger Cloutier told reporters.
“We are still engaged.”
The move is the first resulting from a sweeping Pentagon review of the
presence of US forces around the world in an effort to better align that
presence with US defense priorities — which list China and Russia as the
principle threats to the country.
That could mean reducing US deployments meant to confront Islamic militant threats, including in Africa.
But the Pentagon is also wary of leaving a vacuum in certain areas, like in
Africa, for the Chinese and Russians to fill, which could give them
strategically valuable footholds.
The United States has about 6,000 military personnel throughout Africa,
including 800 in West Africa, 500 Special Forces in Somalia and an
unspecified number at an air base in Niger.
The US depends especially on French and various African partner forces in
West Africa in field operations, but the US strategy has moved to mostly
seeking to “contain” the extremist groups rather than degrade them.
“The terrorist threat in Africa remains persistent and, in many places, is
growing,” said the Pentagon’s inspector general in a recent report on US
counterterrorism operations in Africa. — NNN-AGENCIES