More military aid to Africa as terrorism increases
August 2, 2012 3:11 AM
WASHINGTON - Growing concerns about persistent terrorist threats from
splintered al-Qaida groups across Africa have triggered an increase in U.S.
military funding and more focus on a handful of African nations.
Already this year, the Pentagon has poured more than $82 million into
counterterrorism assistance for six African countries, with more than half
of that going to Uganda, and much of the rest going to Kenya, Burundi and
Djibouti - all key allies in the fight against the al-Qaida-linked militant
group al-Shabab in Somalia.
The assistance, according to the State Department's latest report on
terrorism, may be starting to show some results in Somalia. But across
Africa, the number of terrorist incidents increased by about 11.5 percent
last year, including in Nigeria.
The new report comes as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton begins a
series of visits across the continent, including stops in Uganda and Kenya.
The two countries are part of AMISOM, the African Union peacekeeping force
that has been battling al-Shabab militants and has succeeded in largely
pushing the militants out of Mogadishu, Somalia, after years of raging war.
That military effort has helped to make significant gains in degrading
al-Shabab's capability and liberating areas from al-Shabab administration,
the State Department report said, adding that "foreign fighters and
al-Shabab members remained in many parts of south and central Somalia and
continued to mount operations within Somalia and against neighboring
countries."
According to the report, al-Shabab continues to maintain training camps in
southern Somalia for young recruits - and those have included Americans who
have traveled there from Somali communities in the United States.
"To the extent that we focus on helping the Africans themselves deal with
problems of instability, prepare them to conduct their own peace operations
and to support transitions from conflict - all of that contributes
significantly to countering terrorism in a broader sense," said Tom Dempsey,
a retired Army colonel who teaches national security at the Defense
Department's Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
The Pentagon has increased surveillance and intelligence-sharing in Africa,
sent teams of special operations forces and broadened training for African
militaries. Al-Qaida-linked militant groups train and operate out of safe
havens in often remote and underdeveloped regions of the continent.
The Pentagon has told Congress that military aid for Uganda includes more
than $19 million for trucks, trailers, inflatable boats, weapons,
communications equipment and combat training. While that aid is targeted for
the Somalia fight, the U.S. is also sending more than $22 million worth of
logistic support and supplies to Uganda to aid in the fight against warlord
Joseph Kony's infamous Lord's Resistance Army.
In addition, the Pentagon is sending $13.1 million in aid to Burundi,
including trucks, communications equipment and training; nearly $8 million
in aid to Kenya, including eight small surveillance drones; and $750,000 in
training to Djibouti.
Dempsey said broader assistance programs, including training assistance
programs and military education funds that bring officers to U.S. war
colleges, help African nations counter violent extremism, which fuels
terrorism. But he also noted that it is often difficult to tie any rise or
fall in terrorist incidents to any one factor.
"If you're talking about drone strikes with Hellfire missiles that take out
a terrorist here or there, I have serious reservations about how much that
contributes to combatting terrorism in Africa," Dempsey said. "But broader
engagement efforts that encourage professionalism of African militaries -
those efforts contribute significantly."
