Terrorists in the Sahel region of Africa are poised to take advantage of uncertainty in the American defense posture following a recent Defense Department announcement, but U.S. Africa Command shored up partners with a military equipment donation to Niger on Friday.
“Violence continues to be [of] concern in the region,” AFRICOM spokeswoman Kelly Cahalan told the Washington Examiner, pointing to the murders of French and Nigerien nationals in a giraffe reserve last week.
AFRICOM announced the donation of $8 million in military equipment to Niger to help fight al Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated terrorist groups in the vast, ungoverned spaces of the Sahel region in West Africa.
AFRICOM faces possible budget cuts in September and has no place for its headquarters to relocate following Trump’s decision to downsize the military’s presence in Germany, but the combatant command continues to bolster local forces to fight violence and contain transnational threats.
Niger is one of America’s strongest allies in the terrorist fight in the region, hosting a $100 million unmanned aerial vehicle air base used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions throughout the region.
The impoverished West African nation is also one of five members of the G5 Sahel, a 5,000-strong multinational force made up of Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania.
“The G5 Sahel Joint Force’s missions include combating counterterrorism, transnational organized crime, and trafficking in the Sahel, which includes Mali and Burkina Faso,” Cahalan added when asked why the donations did not go to Sahel countries facing more severe terrorist threats.
Mali has seen more than 1,800 killed from jihadist and ethnic militias since the start of the year, according to media reports, and recent corrupt elections have led to street protests.
Burkina Faso is widely seen as a spillover country where violence is also spreading fast.
The American equipment donated includes 15 Osprea MK7 MAMBA armored personnel carriers, four Osprea MK7 MAMBA armored command vehicles, three Osprea MK7 MAMBA armored ambulances, two Toyota land cruiser ambulances, and four armored vehicle mechanic tool sets. The equipment donation includes U.S. maintenance support.
In the vast savanna landscapes of the Sahel, roads are both poor and limited, meaning that military convoys are easy targets for terrorists planting improvised explosive devices.
The choice of Niger may be more a matter of partnership and trust than strategy.
“Niger is a great example of a partner who has made significant gains through partnership not only with the U.S. but with other European partners,” Maj. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, chief of Special Operations Command Africa, told the Washington Examiner in a July interview.
“The G5 countries are making progress in professionalizing their forces. However, they are facing significant challenges and still need the help of the international community,” he added.
For nearly a decade, the region has seen the spread of al Qaeda and ISIS-affiliated forces, including the near toppling of the Malian government in 2012 until France was asked to shore up Bamako. Recent attacks have targeted native forces and U.N. peacekeepers and have reached Africa’s littoral states.
Strengthening African forces
French forces in the region now number 5,100 troops and depend on AFRICOM’s ISR and logistics capabilities to target terrorists seeking both safe haven and to grow their revenue streams.
The French have also been actively conducting joint missions alongside the G5 troops.
“We can see a higher quality of the partner forces,” French Army Col. Frederic Barbry, spokesman for the French Joint Defence, told the Washington Examiner in a July interview by video from Paris.
“There is an actual coordination, a synergy of actions,” Barbry said in describing the work of French Operation Barkhane and G5 Sahel troops, which he said rely on good intelligence.
Much of that intelligence is gathered by AFRICOM, which has 1,200 DOD personnel across West Africa.
Intelligence was vital to killing al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Emir Abdelmalek Droukdel and his top associates in northern Mali in June in a French-led operation.
In addition to combating terrorism, the G5 force’s mission includes fighting transnational organized crime and trafficking, two of the key revenue sources for terrorists in the region.
AFRICOM is the first combatant command that will undergo a “blank slate review” process in September by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who is seeking ways to par back spending across the 11 commands in order to focus America’s resources on global power competition with adversaries China and Russia.
In announcing that 11,900 U.S. troops would withdraw from bases in Germany, Esper effectively said on July 29 that AFRICOM would leave its Stuttgart headquarters, but he gave no indication where it would go.
“Decisions and timelines associated with any potential U.S. Africa Command force adjustments are still to be determined,” AFRICOM Public Affairs Director Col. Chris Karns told the Washington Examiner following Esper’s announcement.
AFRICOM had already been strengthening its case in recent months, trying to show that spiking violence and the presence of terrorists in Africa with global ambitions cannot be ignored.
Barbry told the Washington Examiner that even with 10 European nations stepping up their support to the terrorist fight in the Sahel, America’s logistics support and troop presence are “essential and critical.”
Cahalan said American support to the G5 nations also includes training exercises and a DOD liaison at its headquarters in Mauritania.
“We will continue to support our G5 Sahel partners in the fight against violent extremist organizations,” she said.
Karns added that no matter where the command is relocated, it will serve U.S. security interests on the continent.
“U.S. Africa Command will continue to provide a range of support to our partners in Africa,” he assured, noting the command itself hosts 1,400 personnel. “Decisions on this matter rest with the Secretary of Defense.”
