Dina Mahmoud (London)
General Stephen Townsend, commander of the US military command in Africa (AFRICOM), warned that the terrorist threat is escalating in the brown continent, especially in West Africa and the Sahel, in light of the expansion of the activities of extremist groups loyal to bloody organizations, such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda. in the two regions.
Townsend pointed out that Al-Qaeda’s Support for Islam and Muslims group constitutes the largest and most dangerous terrorist organization in West Africa, along with two groups that swear allegiance to ISIS; One of them is active in the “Great Sahara”, and the other carries out its operations in the west of the brown continent, and the Lake Chad region is, in most cases, its main stronghold.
The prominent US military commander stressed in a remote press conference organized by the US State Department and attended by Al-Ittihad that the terrorist group “Boko Haram” is still present in the arena of bloody competition with other extremist organizations in West Africa, despite its influence It is no longer the same as before, when its brutal attacks, dominate the coverage of the media in the world.
According to Townsend, many of the militants of this group, whose main stronghold is Nigeria, surrendered to the security authorities, or decided to join the “ISIS-West Africa” banner, which has become the most dangerous terrorist organization in the former sphere of influence of “Boko Haram”.
The AFRICOM commander confirmed that the threat posed by ISIS in West Africa is now expanding significantly, especially in Nigeria, pointing out in this regard that hundreds of prisoners escaped earlier this month from a prison in a suburb of the capital Abuja, in an operation announced by that organization. The terrorist is responsible.
The commander of the US military command in Africa stressed that the United States is seeking to limit the escalation of terrorist activity in West Africa, and to prevent the spread of its scope to the Sahel countries, noting that the ongoing developments in these two regions constitute a “grave concern” for the international community that is following it up. closely.
He added that his country is focusing its activities on providing support to its partners in the Sahel and West African countries, by providing them with equipment, training and advice, and is studying how to adopt more effective policies in the “fighting terrorism” file.
The American general did not neglect to point out “tactical gains” achieved in the war against terrorism in the brown continent, which were represented in the killing of a number of prominent terrorist leaders there, led by Abdelmalek Drodkal, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Qaeda’s wing in North Africa, who was killed about two years ago.
But General Townsend stressed at the same time, that it will not be possible to defeat the “violent extremism” organizations in Africa by military force alone, in light of the need to deal with the roots of this problem represented in “incompetent or irrational governance”, which necessitates the adoption of a comprehensive approach. to counter these regulations.
On the other hand, the US commander affirmed his country’s commitment to supporting the Somali security forces and helping them defeat Al-Qaeda’s “Al-Shabab” movement, using the efforts of other partner countries in the Horn of Africa, such as Kenya and Djibouti.
He said: The US military mission in Somalia has not changed, despite President Joe Biden’s approval last May to redeploy US forces in this country, explaining that the US military will continue to train and advise Somali forces on the war against Somalia. “Young”.
The AFRICOM commander also touched on the “African Lion” maneuvers that were concluded a few weeks ago in Morocco and other African countries such as Tunisia, praising in this context the great role played by Rabat in hosting these exercises, the largest of their kind on the continent, over the course of 18 years. This highlights what he described as the great Moroccan capabilities in the field of military capabilities and infrastructure.
He also pointed out the importance that the United States attaches to efforts to establish security and stability in North African countries, as they represent the southern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
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