African security“We are not winning” counterterror war in Sahel, U.S. military leader in Africa says
The United States and its allies are not winning the counterterrorism war for the Sahel, the head of U.S. special operations forces in Africa said. The U.N. said last week that more than 100,000 people in Burkino Faso have been displaced by violence, and the country’s education minister has said more than 150,000 children are not going to school because of the jihadist threat.
The United States and its allies are not winning the counterterrorism war for the Sahel, the head of U.S. special operations forces in Africa told VOA Thursday.
“I would tell you at this time, we are not winning,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Marcus Hicks, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, said Thursday on the sidelines of Flintlock, a major U.S.-led military exercise in the region. The exercise involves about 2,000 commandoes from more than 30 countries.
The host of this year’s exercise, Burkina Faso, is battling an insurgency from several al-Qaida-linked groups, particularly in the past several months.
“What we fight against, what we see every day is like a toxin,” Burkinabe Lt. Col Coulibaly Kanou told VOA. “I do not know what the terrorists want from us.”
The U.N. said last week that more than 100,000 people in Burkino Faso have been displaced by violence, and the country’s education minister has said more than 150,000 children are not going to school because of the jihadist threat.
“The threat is growing,” U.S. Ambassador to Burkino Faso Andrew Young told VOA in an interview. “We’re in a tough fight, and the fight is getting harder.”
To counter that threat, the United States Embassy in Burkina Faso is expanding the amount of resources applied to the security problem and the amount of resources allocated toward supporting equitable economic development.
“We have asked for resources, and the resources have been provided to us to accomplish the mission,” Young said.
Financial support increased
U.S. Africa Command has increased financial support of the G5 Sahel Joint Force, troops from Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger and Mauritania who patrol together against militant fighters, to nearly $111 million. Young said Burkina Faso has received $30 million of those funds.
Hicks cautioned that all nations interested in a secure and prosperous Africa should watch the Sahel “very closely” and “continually reassess whether or not there are enough resources applied.”
He said he “would not recommend more drones or more advisers” at this time, but he wouldn’t advise reducing U.S. troop numbers in the region, either.
“We’re trying to avoid as much as possible the kinetic activity that could eventually disenfranchised the people from the legitimate government,” Hicks said.
