Africa – Week in Review April 4, 2014 Share This /

Secretary Kerry stressed security cooperation against terrorism while in Algeria and Morocco this week, while the United States trained several African partner security forces in intelligence, peacekeeping and disaster relief. Read about these stories and other security news in the region this week:

U.S. military training in the region

• The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced it would send 175 Marines assigned to U.S. Africa Command to Romania. The Marines are part of the Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response team, usually stationed in Moron, Spain. While it is unusual for the Africa-bound soldiers to be stationed in Romania, the Pentagon refuted media speculations that the troop increase in Ukraine’s neighbor was related to the crisis in Crimea.
• The U.S. Air Force trained Angolan and Zambian counterparts as part of African Partnership Flight Angola 2014, a military exercise focused on “disaster relief operations, mission planning, and equipment preparation for airlift.” The exercise lasted five days and concluded on April 2.
• The U.S. Marine Corps trained Moroccan and German military professionals during an intelligence capacity building workshop called African Lion 14, an annual exercise between Morocco and the United States. The goal of this year’s training was to improve intelligence integration in operations, as well as techniques for nonlethal weapons enforcement.
• The U.S. Marines also reported this week they trained Ghanaian counterparts in in non-lethal weapons tactics March 17-21.
• U.S. Marines also trained Burundi troops in preparation of their peacekeeping deployment to Somalia as part of the African Union mission in the country.

Quick news from across Africa

• Africa analyst Lesley Anne Warner wrote a feature examining the Trans Sahara Counter Terrorism Partnership (TSCTP), an interagency counterterrorism program in North Africa and the Sahel. She notes some successes on the ground, but laments that the TSCTP is the main U.S. engagement with the region, and called it a “critical weakness” in policy:

By design, TSCTP has a narrow counterterror/counterextremism focus that does not focus on building democratic institutions, tackling public corruption, addressing social inequality, or reforming entire security sectors—areas of engagement that many of the countries in this chronically unstable region need.

• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry travelled to Algeria and Morocco this week to discuss security cooperation and the threat of terrorism. In his opening remarks in Algeria, Kerry stressed security cooperation against terrorism, before turning to economic and other issues.
• In a letter to President Obama, Chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce (R – CA) requested  a reevaluation of U.S. assistance to Rwanda, including security and peacekeeping assistance, due to rising human rights concerns.
• Chad announced it would gradually withdraw its 850 peacekeeping troops from neighboring Central African Republic. The move comes after increasing sectarian tension between the majority Muslim Chadian peacekeepers and Christian vigilante groups, who clashed this Monday in an incident that left 30 civilians dead. After some delay, the European Union started assigning 1000 peacekeeping troops to the Central African Republic this week.
• Amnesty International (AI) released satellite images depicting mass graves in Nigeria’s northeast, including images depicting the region around military Giwa barracks, which Boko Haram attacked.  AI found 600 people were killed in the aftermath of this attack, mostly by government forces. Based on AI’s evidence, former U.S. ambassador John Campbell determined the Nigerian government had committed crimes against humanity. Nigerian human rights organizations are calling for an official inquiry.
• This coming Sunday will mark the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of Rwanda’s genocide. Foreign Affairs interviewed President Paul Kagame about the conflict, transitional justice and the country today.
• Cameroon seized 288 rifles and 35 rockets from arms traffickers on Chad’s border. The weapons are thought to have been en route to Nigeria northern, conflict ridden states.
• The conflict in South Sudan continues into its third month. With little progress and continued fighting despite a ceasefire, regional mediators have postponed peace talks until the end of April. In the meantime, the Sudan Tribune has been reporting defections of top South Sudanese officers to the rebel forces.
• Oxfam ran a data analysis of the cost of African conflicts on human development between 1990 and 2007. According to the group, armed violence cost Africa $300 billion during those 17 years and caused higher infant mortality, food insecurity, as well as lower life expectancy, and literacy rates, amongst other quality of life indicators.